


you move through moonbeams slowly

by neptunedemon



Series: moonbeams [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 1930s, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Blood and Injury, Falling In Love, Fantasy Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Morally Ambiguous Character, Recovery, Sexual Content, Vampire Hunters, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:22:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 64,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neptunedemon/pseuds/neptunedemon
Summary: Yuri drifts between shadow and moonlight, the only two places he can exist. He's wild, Otabek knows. He's deadly. Yet Otabek agrees to ally with him to defeat a common enemy. They'll not kill each other (for now), and Otabek will do his best to hide his betrayal from their town.But there's a storm under Yuri's skin, and nearness to him awakens Otabek to a side of the shadows he’s never noticed. He pulls away, but his world is altered to a permanent winterscape with snowflakes falling like ash from the humanity Yuri's burning down in both of them.Otabek understands soon enough he's fallen in too far, so he follows Yuri until moonlight itself tastes like him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi & welcome and thank you for even opening this fic! 
> 
> This story is completely written and will be updated twice-weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays. I am SO excited to finally share it. 
> 
> If you're new to my stories - hello, I'm Xatyrn, you can expect a lot of plot with this one. 
> 
> HERE WE GO
> 
> (BTW, the natural laws reguarding my vampires are gradually revealed, so bear with me!)

Otabek whirled around, jacket catching the air and billowing around him. He held his gun out. The metal winked in the small moonbeam streaks that cut in through the fallen-in rooftop.

This building is abandoned and perfect for a vampire nest considering the basement underneath. The light cast inside during the day might convince a less experienced hunter that no vampire would stake out here. But Otabek knew they could be cunning. Smart.  

Something moved in the dark to his left, a shadow so faint it might have been a trick of the eye if all vampires didn’t move with such stealth and ease.

He pretended he didn’t see. Kept his gun forward, his head straight ahead. But his vision’s peripheral was on that spot. Even now, he could almost make out the outline of a figure crouched low. Its frame pulsed with his eyes’ attempt to catch what it could in the shadows.

He knew it saw him in perfect clarity – a reason why he couldn’t look its way. It would know he was aware of it.

It seemed to sway a little as it came nearer, as if it were waiting. Or planning.

There was a streak of moonlight cast between them. It landed down in the center of the room and touched the wall on the left.

So it would either launch straight ahead any moment and sacrifice being seen for a quicker bite, or disappear into the shadows to Otabek’s right and come around on his side.

The door to the building opened, and a long block of moonlight spread into the room.

The new light cast the whole room in a gentle glow, bright enough for Otabek to see his target. What looked like a young man’s eyes were glinting at him.

Otabek also knew vampires could be beautiful.

The vampire had chin length hair. Was lanky and perhaps tall had it not been crouched on the floor. His legs were folded, all his weight on the balls of his bare feet, with hands touching the floorboards in front of him as subtle supports.

Its face sneered something between a grin and a grimace.

Never look at a vampire.

At the entrance of the building, Otabek’s apprentice, JJ, stood frozen, though he found his voice.

"Otabek!" he yelled, and Otabek’s eyes glanced to him for the merest breadth of a second.

This had gone all wrong.

The vampire moved fast. He was in the space between JJ and Otabek, where Otabek couldn’t shoot unless he risk hitting JJ. And then it was at Otabek’s side. Otabek did his best not to look it in the eyes, though he could see its pale hair sway near him.

Otabek ducked under an arm swung out, but his gun was knocked from his hands, and he felt the vampire’s cold skin brush his for an awful moment.

He dropped to the floor and let himself roll back, completely going feet over head and using the momentum to yank his stake from its harness.

He heard the vampire scuffle to catch him, but he jumped to his feet and launched forward. There was a hiss of surprise from the creature as Otabek made contact. They both stumbled back into the wall.

Otabek had missed, but he’d stabbed it through the shoulder into the old and pliant material of the wall, pinning it there.

Black, viscous liquid bubbled from the wound, sinewy flesh steaming.

The creature shrieked for a horrid moment. Otabek swallowed against the rise of his own instinctual fear at the sound.

His gun was somewhere behind him. He could grab it while it was pinned...

The howl suddenly died into a manic and high-pitched laugh.

Otabek glanced it again, and the predatory gaze in its eyes still fared strong – that siren-like tug that pulled on the hearts of humans at the sight of those beautiful features, making those untrained in resisting easy prey. Even with training, it was hard… Hair colored like the softest of the sun’s rays. Eyes fierce, cheekbones low and gentle.

It would seem innocent, angelic even, if not for the way it leered at him, still half drunk in its own laughter, sharp teeth exposed.

“Quite the pretty one, aren’t you, human?” Its head cocked to the side with a sickening rolling motion. Though feigning confidence, its arm trembled slightly beneath the stake.

Its eyes flit from Otabek’s eyes to his neck, and Otabek wondered if the creature was so desperate that it'd attempt lunging at him from there, tearing its own arm off in the process.

There wasn't a lot of time, but Otabek couldn't take his eyes off the vampire. He took a slow step back, feeling the space under his shoes carefully unless he kick his gun. The vampire tried to jerk against the stake, its flesh still sizzling. It hissed as more of the vile liquid gushed from the wound.

The stake was blessed, but it wouldn't hold the vampire forever. As the blessing wore thinner with each moment, its arm would work to heal itself quickly until the stake pushed out.

The vampire held still, eyes flitting between Otabek and its arm, knowing it had to wait this out.

Its eyes dropped to the ground behind Otabek, and he registered the relative location of his gun by that glance; he imagined the vampire could feel the pulse of the silver hidden inside it like the aching press of an oncoming headache.

Its eyes shot back up to him, wide with anger. It knew it'd been caught.

A breeze enough to only stir the dust breathed through the open entrance and past them. It wasn't even strong enough to lift the vampire's hair, but its nostrils flared, and something strange crossed over its expression.

Otabek disregarded that. He was nearly grinning; that glance moments before had been all he needed.

"Wait!" it said the same time Otabek leaped backward, landing in a crouch with his right hand coming down on the barrel of the gun.

"I know you," it hissed.

Otabek never had a vampire try to escape its last moments through more than raw, bloody battle, but nonetheless, Otabek lifted the gun.

It moved its free hand to the stake and gripped it with a hot sizzle. "I said _WAIT_ ," it yelled with a voice that shook the shadows, and it ripped the stake from its arm.

He didn’t have time to be surprised - there was a blast from his gun and his shoulders jerked back.

Otabek must have missed by an amount of time so small that it was only a unit to be considered by science.

The bullet plunged into the wall. It seemed to wink at him in the faint light, mocking him.

So unfair, really, that humans must be so much slower than the rest of the natural world.

The gun was gone from his hands yet again with a kick so precise that the vampire’s foot didn't graze him this time. Then it disappeared behind him. Otabek lurched to his feet and spun around. Nothing was there. Dammit.

He yanked his knife from his belt, a last resort, its silver blade enough to temporarily stun a vampire if a serious enough wound was inflicted.

Otabek reached around to stab the space behind him before turning. A wrist caught him instead, cool skin gripping easily to Otabek’s skin stuck with humidity.

Otabek grunted in pain as the hand squeezed his wrist tight. He tried to reach for the knife with his other hand, but that wrist was grabbed too, the strength of the small framed beast incredible.

In his anger, Otabek stole a glance at it again. Though it was slightly shorter than him, it seemed to glare down, eyes still wide as before, though now they panned across Otabek with unusual fervor.

"Listen to me," it said.

Its fangs had been withdrawn. Otabek realized the snarl had been removed from its face too, and for a moment he was almost fooled.

"Fuck off," he growled, and barreled into it.

He was pretty much a dead man anyway. He might as well seize every reckless chance he was given. He put his weight into the knife held between him and the vampire. His wrist twisted, but he ground his teeth against the pain.

They tumbled forward. Every moment that passed was one where Otabek expected to feel the sharp pain on his neck that would completely render him docile.

The vampire yelled a curse the same time Otabek felt a singular, searing spark near his chest, followed by a flutter of white light.

The silver pendant around his neck was reacting to the vampire’s nearness.

The knife clattered somewhere on the floor as the grip on Otabek’s wrists was suddenly gone.

He’d fallen half on top of the deranged thing.

Otabek didn't know if he was just that good of a hunter or if this thing was just that bad of a vampire, because he should definitely have been dead by now.

His only true chance was either the stake or the gun, and they were both probably the same distance away now; he yanked the silver pendant off by its chain and held it before himself as he stumbled off the creature.

Doing so relieved it from its torment against the silver, but at least if it knew Otabek had the small artifact now, it might be wary of it.

The image of the vampire tearing the stake from its arm too soon flashed across his mind.

This one wouldn't wait.

Otabek planned to pour all his strength into a lunge for where he was fairly sure the stake laid, but the vampire darted forward and his feet swept out from under him.

His head cracked against the floor, and for a moment the room seemed to be lost of its small moonlight. Sound was fuzzy.

He shook his head, desperate for the shock to clear. There was a pressure on his limbs, and the world seemed to spin. His stomach swayed in its attempt to keep up.

A voice was trying to break through.

Otabek thought maybe it was over; had JJ snapped from his stupor and killed the vampire? Had he managed to get Otabek back to Hollow Station?

"Can you hear me?" The voice was clearer... and angry.

Otabek’s eyes opened. The vampire was on top of him, Otabek’s hips pinned down with its knees and wrists smacked to the ground by its hands.

He had no option but to look into its eyes; doing so was like a release of balloons into the sky. His muscles relaxed, and his heart felt fluttery. The vampire's hair fell toward Otabek, still catching the moonlight like a halo around the head of this... thing.

He wanted to thrash against the dangerous charms of his foe, but he was lost. Perhaps the vampire's greatest weapon of all was its ability to captivate a mind before dragging it into darkness.

Otabek wished he could at least close his eyes to block out the end.

He’d lost his control so easily; what if he hadn't pursued this vampire tonight? He’d seen it swooping into the building from one of the holes in the roof. But it would have killed someone else, and more, if not him.

Otabek paused his last thoughts - because he hadn't imagined being tangled in the throes of a vampire’s seductions would permit him that much. Something was wrong.

Aches flowed back into his muscles. He was aware again of the vampire’s knees jabbing into his hip bones, and the way his hands felt like they were going numb, blood flow minimized by the strength of the hands holding his wrists.

He blinked. The vampire still stared down at him, and it was still a menacing beauty, but Otabek could see that now without some sick spell.

The vampire raised an eyebrow - an eerily human gesture - and said, "Will you listen now?"

"What?" Otabek gasped. He wanted to throw its weight off him, but something about this was very, very off, and he needed to know why.

"You were there that night when Sal attacked this town. I saw you fighting."

Oh. So this is what that was. Revenge for fallen comrades - Otabek wasn't about to be spared. He was about to be tortured, like some poor mouse in the merciless paws of a cat.

Otabek turned his head to get his bearings on where he'd fallen. If only he could remember where any of his weapons were...

A cold hand touched his face.

Perhaps he was still dazed from the fall, because he hadn’t noticed the removal of a hand from his wrist. The vampire's gesture was somewhere between gentle and rough, perhaps as if it'd forgotten how best not to tear apart humans, but was trying.

It pulled Otabek by his chin to look him in the eyes.

"Believe it or not, I’m not going to eat you," it said, voice cutting low in the dark like water underneath a frozen lake. "Instead, I have a favor to ask."

Otabek tried to move his hand down, thinking he could get leverage to throw it off him, but the vampire grabbed him again. It was a cheap shot, Otabek knew.

"You fight so much," it said, lifting his hand to its mouth. Otabek’s heart hammered so hard it filled the room, echoing in his ears enough that he almost missed the next words.

"I can make it worth your while." It pressed its lips against his knuckles and inhaled deep through its nose.

A blast sounded, and something rushed past Otabek.

The world ground into slow-motion as the vampire looked toward the entrance. For a moment, it was just Otabek defenseless on the floor with a beautiful man above him. He focused on his jawline, the way the muscles in his throat tensed. The fragments of light pouring into the room cast his face in partial shadow.

Yes - the more this creature tried to interact with him in some vile, desperate attempt at toying with Otabek, the more he became personified. He was, he knew, falling into the sensual web vampires spin around humans.

Otabek also knew JJ had tried to shoot the vampire - knew he had missed, though he wasn't entirely sure that he wasn't the one struck. Vision and feeling were a heavy burden on his consciousness at the moment.

The light across the vampire's face shifted until there was more darkness there than glow, and he hissed at JJ in the distance, fangs bared again. The transformation was so smooth, Otabek blinked, his mind sluggish and his training to keep him from being distracted by such details failing him.

The vampire rolled backward off Otabek as another bullet rushed passed. JJ had terrible aim.

Otabek sat up much too fast, and the ground under him churned. A roil in his stomach threatened to send him vomiting, and Otabek rolled onto his side in case he did.

He heard JJ fire the gun another time. Somewhere a window shattered, and there was yelling.

Otabek coughed, dry heaved, pressed his forehead to the cold floor.

There were several voices now, more than the number of people - and things - that had been in the room before.

Otabek suddenly wanted too much to fall asleep. Whatever happened, whether or not the vampire was killed or not, it seemed he'd made it out alive.

By some pathetic, miraculous force, he was alive.

~

The trek to Hollow Station was foggy and painful. Otabek remembered voices telling him he needed to stay awake until the doctor had seen him.

It was an hour later now, and he was sitting in front of a fireplace with Dr. Giacometti shuffling pills into a bottle. JJ sat next to him, looking miserable despite not being the one to have taken the hit. All the hits, actually.

Otabek’s body ached with every pulse of blood under his skin. He still felt every fall, every hit, and every vile grip.

Behind them, two fellow hunters paced, unnerved by the escaped vampire and concerned by Otabek being out of commission for now.

Except, "I’m still fine," Otabek countered.

"You almost died, and you still want to jump back onto the street?" Yuuri stopped in front of the flames to stare down at him.

"I can handle myself. I know my limits."

The pounding in his head was deep but he kept his composure, not wanting to give anyone further reason worry. "I’ll be fine after I rest tonight. I need to find it."

Yuuri canted his hips and rubbed a hand through his hair with a sigh. "Dr. Giacometti doesn't agree with that."

"If I make it through the night, that's enough. I need to..." What did he need to do? The memory of the vampire of the evening didn't make sense now any more than it had in the moment.

"I really am sorry, Otabek," JJ said. He set his head in his hands and sighed.

Otabek had received the full story of JJ’s encounter when he'd come around. Before Otabek had charged after the vampire, he had actually been bidding his apprentice farewell. When he'd seen that shadow dart across the roof, though, he'd taken off, yelling for JJ to go home. Because until tonight, JJ hadn’t had a true encounter with a vampire yet.

But JJ had followed and witnessed the chaotic battle between Otabek and the vampire. He’d tried to aim to shoot several times.

“You two were practically wrestling - I was scared to shoot you."

"All that matters is that the vampire dies," Otabek had chided, even though he himself had been concerned with hitting JJ during the fight.

"And then when I saw it put its mouth on you, I knew it didn't matter. Dammit Otabek, I thought you were gone, and it was my fault. So I just started shooting. But it ran."

This story was horrifying to the other hunters, unsurprisingly. Vampire battles don't tend to escalate so intimately, and JJ had enough wit to suspect the vampire was toying with Otabek.

He’d also noticed the vampire spoke to Otabek - a lot - though he didn't hear the words.

Otabek confirmed this, but carefully. He excused the sole intent to kill and the tension of the fight for not remembering what was said.

Yet he remembered. But the memory felt too incomplete, like he didn't have all the pieces to how this encounter spiraled out.

He should be dead; he definitely knew that much.

The next thought sifted darkly through his other thoughts: that vampire wanted to tell him something so badly that it’d given up the kill.

Something about Sal.

What was at work here?

Yuuri adjusted his glasses with a heavy sigh. His shadow danced across Otabek as he held out his hands in surrender.

"I mean, we can’t control what you decide," he said, and then stuck those hands back in the pockets of his coat. Otabek watched the swaying shadows of the fabric across the floorboards.

Victor’s shadow joined his husband, wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging Yuuri into him. "Do us this one favor and sleep on it before making a decision."

"I’d recommend that," Dr. Giacometti tacked on. "Also you should be woken up once every few hours to make sure you aren’t concussed. Any of your friends here willing?"

Otabek’s fist clenched at the idea of spending a night with any of them. Victor and Yuuri were on the precipice of speaking when JJ stood. He put a hand on Otabek’s shoulder. "It should be me."

"Is this really necessary?" Otabek turned his head to Dr. Giacometti, who handed him a pill bottle.

"For the pain," he said. "And no, if you don't care about going to sleep and never waking up."

~

JJ was curled up on his couch beyond his bathroom door.

"Not too comfortable though," he'd said. "I can't fall asleep on you."

Otabek’s smile was grim. He needed time to think, and though he did in fact want to wake up in the morning, he was basically hosting someone in his apartment. He couldn't relax, but he tried with a shower.

Otabek gazed at himself in the mirror after letting hot water hit him until there was none left. Bruises were blooming in places he hadn't remembered falling. A ring was yellowing on both his wrists - he did remember the cause of those: that strong, determined grip to keep Otabek still as the vampire tried to get him to listen to something.

Something... be it a taunt or an actual message.

"Didn’t fall asleep in there, did you?"

Otabek’s shoulders tensed and the corners of his mouth turned downward.

JJ meant well, he really did.

But Otabek couldn't humor him right now. He tightened his towel around his waist swung open the door. A tight-lipped nod was all Otabek graced him with as he walked past.

"Okay, see you in a couples hours!" JJ cheered.

With a deep, taxing intake of air, Otabek turned his head to the side just enough to see JJ standing there.

"Thanks," he said. He shut the door to his bedroom.

A shirt and pants later, Otabek turned the lamp off beside his bed. He knew the darkness would fill the space, but what he didn't expect was the way his muscles would freeze. He turned the light on again.

Deep breath.

That was all he could manage; just deep breaths into heavy lungs and hope that was enough to keep him alive until morning.

He glanced the window near the head of his bed. Soft curtains, colored like a purple dusk, hung listlessly. Moon light would pour in if he opened them, but the idea of inviting the night in sat icy in his stomach.

He shut the lamp off once more.

Through his physical exhaustion, Otabek struggled to sleep. Didn’t the doctor warn him that signs of being unable to stay awake were a warning sign? What did the opposite mean, then?

Green eyes glittered behind his lids. Nearness to sleep woke him with the phantom pressures of slamming into the floor, having his body grabbed and held down.

The touch of the vampire's lips against his hand, so gentle it was almost a kiss.

Blankets folded in the clench of Otabek’s fist.

Another memory dragged itself forth: the gentle swoop of breeze past Otabek when he'd pinned the vampire to the wall. The following exclamation that it knew him.

That final inhale, so gentle, like it'd been committing him to memory. To...

_To track me._

Otabek was on the verge of a fitful sleep when he shot upward.

Heart hammering a panicked rhythm against his ribs, he blinked into the darkness. What had woken him?

There was a rapping on his window.

"Oh shit," Otabek tore from the bed, one of his feet tangling in his blankets and knocking him to the floor. His head was already starting its pounding. In the dark he fumbled his way to a standing position.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

His mind struggled to drag itself out of half-sleep. Otabek blinked hard and fast, shaking his head, pain worsening with each nod, but he needed to wake up. He was a vampire fucking slayer, goddammit. One knocking on your window wasn't actually the most challenging of all possible encounters.

In the dark he stepped to where he knew he'd slung his jacket before, feeling for his gun set underneath the fabric somewhere.

It knocked again.

Still mostly blind, Otabek reached into the top drawer of his wardrobe and pulled out another chain with silver on the end and slung it over his head.

He swallowed hard as he stepped to the window.

Then he swung apart the curtains.

Green eyes and swooping hair tangled in the moon. Otabek immediately averted his eyes again. His heartbeat was back to a pound.

So he did come back to him.

Otabek wasn't sure how to handle this situation now.

"Oh, finally," it said, voice muffled by the glass pane. "Open this up."

"What the fuck," Otabek muttered to himself, and then louder to it: "No! I’m not inviting you in."

"I didn't ask for that!" Its voice wavered between normal speech and a hiss.

"You followed me." Otabek pointed the gun toward the glass, eyes shifting between its eyes and the windowsill. He wasn't feeling the tempting lull of the eyes that he'd trained so hard to resist.

If this had been any other encounter, Otabek would not have risked this. But as it was, his curiosity was threatening to boil over - he looked it in the eyes.

Nothing happened, and it seemed to know what Otabek was testing, because it grinned at him. "You’re so observant. Now open this."

Otabek inched forward, in disbelief with himself. But every movement he made, he felt for a sense of loss of control, or any signs he'd been spell-casted by this creature.

He bit his lower lip as he put his hands on the window latch, pausing as the sound of the lock unhinging filled the limited space between him and the vampire.

It looked up at him, waiting. Otabek could see it was clinging to the outside of his window, even though there was hardly anything but a small ledge to hold onto.

He tossed the window upward and jumped back, aiming his gun again.

It grinned and its head knocked to the side. "Thanks. Now let me in."

"What? No! Tell me what you want. Why did you... what was that tonight?"

"So I’m going to tell you. I need your help. And before you start asking a thousand questions about that surprising statement, it has to do with killing a vampire."

Otabek balked.

"You’d - you'd turn on one of your own?"

Otabek’s mind whirled through the possibilities here. Was this a territorial issue?

It scoffed. "Do you consider all your fellow men one of your own?"

Otabek moved the gun back firmly between them. "I do when protecting them from one of you."

It winced. "Uh, that shit is giving me a headache."

"Just tell me _creature_ , what is it you want?!"

That seemed to stir something vile in the vampire, because its face darkened, and its voice lowered to an icy tone. "How about this, _human_ ," it spat. "You let me in because I didn't kill you tonight when I had the chance. You know you lost that battle, and if you don't then you're lying to yourself. You let me in and give me a chance to speak because why the fuck would I try to kill you now instead?"

Otabek still had the upper hand, technically, even if he did invite it inside. And he knew he wouldn't rest easy until he knew what it wanted from him.

Never had he stood across from one and had a real conversation. What he knew about vampires seemed to be unraveling each second he spent in the presence of this particular one.

It was strange, but he really wanted to believe what this vampire was saying. He wished he’d retrieved a new stake from his closet.

"Come in."

The words dropped to the floorboards like a set of keys thrown down. A heavy silence seemed to plunder into the room along with the moonlight, as if the natural world knew what he'd committed.

The vampire gripped the window from the outside and swung itself in, landing in a crouch with singular thud on his floor. Otabek hadn't noticed its clothes before - so many vampires wore what they'd been turned in, it seemed. Or perhaps he never paid attention.

This one wore dark pants that clung to its figure, and a shirt that may have once been something whole, now cut into shreds, purplish fabric barely clinging to skin. The apparel was wild and fitting something like this that prowled through the night, jumping from building to building with cat-like agility.

Slowly, it straightened up to glare at Otabek from a gap in the hair that'd fallen into its face. Only one eye was visible.

Still so strangely beautiful.

That eye stared him down across the room, vehement and animalistic.

It raised a hand to point at him fast, and Otabek gripped the gun tightly, finger brushing the trigger.

"First of all, I’m not an _it_ or a _thing_ , and my name isn't creature or vampire, despite what you and your humans seems to think."

What was... this? Otabek blinked, dumbfounded. He was being corrected on its... his pronouns and name?

The vampire brought - his, Otabek stopped fighting at last - hand to his chest. "I’m a fucking sentient being just like you and my name is Yuri."

"Oh," Otabek lowered the gun slightly. He’d never been given the name of a vampire. Not unless it was already known by him before its turning.

"Now that's out of the way," he turned to face Otabek fully. "Um." He stared at the gun in Otabek’s hands.

Otabek let it drop to his side, but he couldn't let go of it fully yet.

Yuri shrugged. "Fine," he said. He sat against the window sill, shoulders rolling back in a loose stretch.

"So I’ve basically turned in my badge as a hunter," Otabek grumbled idly. Yuri shot him a look with raised eyebrows before shaking back hair that'd fallen into his face.

"Congratulations," he said.

"So what is this?”

Yuri glanced to the door, and for a moment Otabek thought he was going to make a run for JJ. His hand tightened around the gun again, but Yuri didn't move, and if he noticed Otabek tense, he didn't mock him.

"That annoying man is asleep. He almost fucking shot me." Yuri didn't consider Otabek’s multiple attempts at killing him worth mentioning, it seemed. "Is he your lover?"

Otabek’s shoulders fell at such a strange but human curiosity. "That?" he gestured to the door with his gun. "I mean him? No no _no_ , he's just here to... make sure I’m okay. Medically."

"Ah." Yuri nodded. "Makes sense. You smell like something that would be awful to eat at the moment."

"Well... all right." Otabek was back to growing impatient for the matter at hand.

"I don't really like the idea of saying too much when that other human might burst in."

"You’d know though. If he woke up."

"Still. But I can give you the basics. And then can you meet me somewhere tomorrow night?"

"Really?" Otabek asked. "More of this?"

Yuri crossed his arms. "This is about killing Sal and his cohorts." He let that sink in a moment before asking, "Interested?"

Of course Otabek was interested. Sal was one of the biggest threats to Hollow. And that battle... had it been a year? It seemed like more time. Or perhaps less, depending on the lens Otabek viewed his memory with.

"Why him?"

"He’s not good for me either."

"... Okay, I’m interested."

"Great. Meet me tomorrow at... what, this time again?"

"Where?"

Yuri cocked a wild grin, and for a moment Otabek saw the animal inside him. "How about the place we met."

"Is that not a nest?"

"What?" Yuri huffed with laughter. "The hell is wrong with you humans. We don't have fucking... nests... is this your NEST?"

"Point taken. There are no other vampires, then?"

"Not _there_ ," Yuri answered, tone on the brink of mocking. Otabek ignored it.

"Then... okay." He sighed. "I’ll trust you."

"And I’ll trust you," Yuri said back.

They stood staring at one another across his small bedroom, the window curtains billowing in the night's warm breeze. For a moment, the light from the moon was all that stirred between them.

Otabek bit his lower lip again, eager for this to end.

"Shake on it, human? Would that satisfy you?"

Otabek scowled. It wouldn't, but he didn't want to reject anything unnecessarily. It felt like glass shards were scattered everywhere in the dark, and the simplest step would cut straight through him and end this strange deal he was striking. A deal to not kill this one vampire in exchange for, hopefully, killing one of the worst.

If that was all.

"Fine." He nodded once. "And it's Otabek, by the way."

Yuri smirked as if he'd been waiting for him to say that. "I knew that. Your buddy in the other room speaks like thunder."

Yuri stepped forward with his hand extended. "Otabek," he said, letting the name float into the shadowed room like a ghost. Otabek could have shivered. Would have, but he ground himself with the bite of his lip and extended a hand.

They touched, grasped hands, shook. Yuri’s were warmer than his cold touch from earlier, Otabek noticed.

Otabek tasted something coppery in his mouth. Confused, he licked his lower lip, and his stomach dropped.

Yuri’s eyes blew wide. They looked into Otabek’s and held him with their intensity. Otabek could only wait, their hands still grasped. He was completely exposed, and he may have bitten into his own demise.

Yuri’s shoulders fell as his hand unwound from Otabek’s, and he smiled a very telltale, knowing smile. "See you tomorrow night, Otabek," he said.

He took a few steps back, eyes not leaving Otabek until he was near enough to the open window to turn and, in one swift jump, leap out to become a shadow in the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are so thoroughly appreciated 
> 
> come cry with me about yoi on [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon) and [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support after the first chapter! Let's keep going. <3

"Ah, he's alive." Victor clapped his hands together and leaned back. He was sitting at their boss’s desk, seemingly organizing paperwork for her. Otabek was lucky Minako hadn’t been there last night – and this morning. She had a sharp glare that could cut to any truth.

Victor continued, "JJ stopped by earlier and said you did fine during the night."

JJ had only woken him up once before sunrise. 

"Yeah, was nice of him," Otabek said. "Where’s Yuuri?"

"Oh." Victor frowned. "There was a killing last night. He’s talking to the family." 

"Dammit," Otabek muttered. 

"Yuuri’s trying to see if it sounds like the one you dealt with." 

Otabek adjusted the necklace around his neck. "Oh, that makes sense,” he said. “Do you think it might be?"

Victor tilted his head. "That depends. What do you think?"

He had spare silver bullets in the pocket of his jacket. He pretended to be checking for those next.

"I don't know. I mean, he ran off."

Victor frowned. “Are you sure you're feeling all right?"

Otabek pursed his lips and hummed a little, stuffing the objects back into his pocket. He adjusted the collar of his coat. 

"That’s what I wanted to discuss, actually."

"Oh!" Victor set the papers he was handling down onto the desk and dragged his chair forward. It scraped across the floorboards. 

He placed folded hands over the paper stack. "So?"

"You guys were right. I’m taking some time off, if that's okay.”

Victor opened his mouth to speak, but Otabek hurried on. "Just a little while. Just until my mind isn't... full of what happened last night. I’m distracted."

"It’s a good sign you're making this decision for yourself," Victor said. He was all amiable smiles, and it made Otabek nearly wince. "And Otabek, I’d like to think I am, but Yuuri was your trainer and he’s  _ definitely _ a good listener…”

Otabek put up a hand to stop him. "It’s not like that. I just need time."

Victor’s head tilted down in a single, accepting nod. "I’ll tell Yuuri, and we'll also let Minako know. We’ll help JJ until you're ready."

"Thank you. This was all."

He turned on the heel of his boot to walk away, but Victor caught him with one more call of his name.

"If there's anything else you remember, or anything at all you need, you  _ can _ talk to Yuuri and I. As friends, too."

Otabek clutched the items in his pocket. "Thank you."

He left, feeling empty. With the other hunters, he was on a team of people that were safe, that were defending humanity with him. But Otabek had chosen to walk a dangerous path, one with a creature of the night; he was yet to digest how to feel about this, though he suspected he’d understand more after tonight's meeting.

The sun was high in the sky.

Otabek wondered where Yuri would be sleeping right now. 

~

Otabek seemed to drift along a different plane as he walked through Hollow. All his focus on what waited in the dark for him made the high day feel false. The world seemed to revolve around the night, and the time people spent roaming the streets and weaving in and out of shops, to Otabek’s eyes, only appeared to be counting down the hours until the sun set again.

Mrs. Nishigori, his landlord, was kneeling against the garden beds at the perimeter of his apartment when he came back.

She smiled when she saw him. “Hey Otabek. Didn’t see you leave today.”

“I left at lunchtime. What are you doing out?”

The daphne she’d planted upon his recommendation years ago had long ago bloomed in winter. There was only the dirt now.

“I was just remembering why I planted daphne here. I forgot for a long time that you were the one that recommended them for the flowerbeds.”

Otabek nodded, recalling. He’d mentioned it when Mrs. Nishigori idly mentioned wanting to decorate the façade of the building with plants. Daphne had an especially strong scent to vampires – it masked most else around. It wasn’t quite a repellant, but it could be slightly disorienting.

When the plant had died for the season, the scent supposedly was strong enough to still cling to the dirt. But of course it wasn’t as effective; Otabek wondered if Yuri could have tracked him home if it’d been wintertime.

“I was pleased when I noticed you took my advice to heart,” he said.

She laughed a little, placing her hands on her hips and turning to him. “Well I’d be crazy not to do what I can to keep  _ them _ out.”

Mrs. Nishigori owned limitless kindness. She was childhood friends with Yuuri, and it was Yuuri that recommended Otabek rent from her.

He surely had broken his lease agreement by willingly letting a vampire inside, thus endangering everyone in the complex.

“Speaking of which,” she continued, eyebrows furrowing now. She stared past Otabek. “I had a dream last night one came to the door late at night, and I let it in.”

“You did?”

“Yes. But it was definitely a dream. I mean, I’m still here.” She shrugged, and her eyes pulled back in from searching the memory of her dream. “Well how is work?” She paused, eyes saddening. “I heard there was a killing.”

Otabek hesitated.

“We’re currently investigating that one,” he said truthfully. “Other than that, everything is going well.”

Her smile reminded Otabek of Yuuri, with her chin up and eyes closed, grin lit with child-like glow. Otabek felt like he was watching her smile from somewhere far, far away.

~

Half ‘til one, Otabek was soon to leave his apartment. He slung his jacket over himself and knelt on the floor to load his gun. He hoped it went without saying for Yuri that he still needed to be able to defend himself. If not against Yuri, then the rest of them. 

His back was a little sore, but besides the bruises that hurt upon impact, he felt fine. Plus, Dr. Giacometti had cleared him. He did recommend Otabek have someone else sit with him through the night, to which Otabek said he would and proceeded to do nothing else about that. 

When he opened a canister of silver bullets on the floor, a wave of exhaustion swept him. He tried to blink it away, but the edges of his mind were inking out of focus. 

A knock sounded from the window. 

Otabek shook his head. That was odd. He felt like he was forgetting something important. He thought that might be Yuri, impatient for their meeting and coming back to Otabek’s apartment. That was... irritating. The bullet he was trying to load slipped from his hand and rolled across the floor. 

His mind felt really slow and fogged.

"Come in," he said anyway, remembering he hadn't locked the window since the previous night. 

The curtains swooped into his room as the window was opened. 

It felt like a cord suspending him above reality snapped, and he plummeted back into his own body with a horrible realization. 

"No!" he yelled, jumping to his feet. 

It was already here. 

A girl vampire, hair long and pulled back, stood in his bedroom. Her head lolled to the side, and her tongue licked across her lips. "You were easy," she said, voice sultry and slow like an evil lullaby.

Otabek felt his mind almost cloud over again when he glanced her eyes. 

"No," he growled to himself to stay alert, and kicked the container of silver at her. She yowled as bullets flew at her, white light gleaming from each as they made contact. Otabek took the fleeting distraction to reach for the stake sitting on his chair. He pointed it at her. 

Her eyes went from a seducing glaze to a fiery one, nose scrunched in a snarl. "Give up," she said. Her voice had descended to be low and guttural. For one moment she bared fangs, and then she jumped.

Otabek dodged her, and the vampire slammed into his wall. He immediately turned back with the stake pointed her way, but she kicked off the wall and rolled across the floor. She hissed as she rolled over silver bullets. But she was on her side, and Otabek couldn't reach her easily. He needed to inflict more pain, stun her. 

As fast as he could, he went for his knife on his dresser. 

If this vampire had attempted the break-in minutes later, Otabek would have been completely prepared. 

He heard a scuffle and what sounded like a brief, hissing laugh.

Otabek grabbed the knife and turned around. 

The room appeared empty, which could only mean awful things for him. He flipped the hilt of the knife and jabbed the space behind him just as he felt a cold hand on his neck. 

The knife struck her though. Otabek couldn't see where, but he heard her shrill scream behind him and her hand clamped down on his shoulder and squeezed. 

He ripped the knife out with another tug and slashed at her hand, nearly hacking his own face in the process. Dark liquid flicked off the knife with every jab. 

As soon as her grip fell from him, he whirled around with his stake. She ducked, and the wood smashed into the top drawer, denting the wardrobe wood and stubbing the end of the stake. 

He pressed his back to the wardrobe before she could manage to get behind him again. 

If this one liked to play the sneak attack, then Otabek would have to cancel out places for her to sneak from. Which meant let her come to him. 

He clutched the knife and the stake in each hand. 

The vampire swayed a little, arms swinging to and fro at her sides. She laughed, high-pitched, and crouched down. Otabek braced himself with a deep breath, looking to the side to avoid her eyes that were fazing between hypnotic and monstrous. 

Her head swiveled toward the open window. " _ What _ ?" she hissed low.

Otabek’s heart dropped as Yuri ducked in through the window, landing amidst the scatter of silver. "Who the fuck are you?" he said, bullets shimmering around both vampires’ feet. 

"This one's mine," she hissed again. 

Yuri knelt down to her level. "But you see, he already invited me in."

Her eyes darted rapidly between Otabek and Yuri. "Are you going to fight me with the human here? He will try to kill us both."

Yuri hummed almost sweetly, pursing his lips with a thoughtful tilt of his head.

"No," he said simply, and grabbed the other vampire by the ponytail and yanked her downward. He slammed her head into the bullets, and the sound of the silver hissing against her skin was awful. She scrambled under his hold, limbs a writhing mess.

Otabek tried not to freeze up. He tightened his grip on his weapons and stepped forward. 

"Hey," Yuri said. "Give me that knife." He held out a hand. 

"This?" Otabek glanced down. Its reflective blade was smeared with vampire blood. "But it's-"

The vampire caught Yuri’s arm in a slash, cutting sharply along his skin. With a pained curse, Yuri jumped to his feet. 

"Just do it!" he demanded.

Otabek let his grip fall to the blade and tossed it through the air toward Yuri, who caught it by the handle easily. The silver gleamed white this close to him. 

The vampire got to her feet heavily, her body rocking in a swaying motion again, though this time without a predatory lull. It was a stagger. 

Her face was gruesome; it looked like it’d been shoved into a fire, flesh steaming from hot wounds, dark liquid oozing to the floor.

"What are you doing?" she growled to Yuri. She began to move clockwise, stalking them with her awful gait. 

Otabek watched in his peripheral as, slowly, Yuri turned around and took steps back until his and Otabek’s backs were pressed together. Yuri whispered with a tilted head, "Next time I have her held down, you do what you do. Okay?"

Here Otabek was, back-to-back with a vampire and being stalked by another one. The universe seemed to be reminding him that he had a choice - or that he did have one.  _ Once _ . But not anymore.

" _ Okay _ ."

The vampire seemed to be sizing them both up, eyes flitting between them unsteadily. "I will kill you both then," she affirmed.

Otabek wondered if Yuri would wait for her to pounce, or if he'd land the next attack. 

His question was soon answered as the vampire darted toward Otabek. Yuri was there in half her time, tripping her up by literally tripping her. She barely missed Otabek as she slammed onto the floor. For several seconds, there was a mad scramble between her and Yuri like fighting cats, and Otabek’s eyes couldn't keep up with the action.

Then a now-familiar screech punctuated the motion, and Yuri sat on her stomach, knife through her gut. "Otabek!" he yelled, but Otabek was already there. He landed with his knees onto the floor and brought the stake down into her heart. Her chest immediately began to cave, flesh sizzling and pungent smoke rising into the air. Otabek held his breath, never keen to breathe in that evil no matter how many times he's done this. 

The body wilted like a flower as the small ounce of life the vampire still claimed burned out.

Her hands fell from where they'd been gripping Yuri and clunked to the ground like stones.  

Yuri was leaning back from the mess, eyes closed and face scrunched in disgust. He pulled away, dragging the knife from the body but immediately dropping it to the ground. It clattered on the floorboards, an awkward applause to their victory. 

Yuri slid back across Otabek’s floor and into the far wall, eyes still closed, and he slumped there.

"Are you okay?" Otabek asked. His head pounded, a lingering reminder of his trauma from the previous night. Beyond the window, the world was quiet; Otabek wondered if any other tenants had heard the racket, or someone out on the street. If they had, they probably hurried on and prayed they wouldn't be next. 

"I am," Yuri tried with an unconvincing rasp. 

Otabek took in the scene of the room. It was unsurprisingly a mess, but silver was scattered everywhere, as well as various items meant to slowly destroy any vampire. 

"Shit, hold on." Otabek gathered the silver bullets back into their box and scooped up his gun and everything else that could be harmful to a vampire. It remained challenging for Otabek to believe he was in this situation, dragging his feet around a dead vampire staked on his floor (he was quite dismayed by this), and another one with a likely blinding headache he was willingly letting live. 

He stuffed the items into his drawer. He almost pulled his necklace off, but thought better of it.

When he turned back around, Yuri was standing again, staring at the staked vampire on the floor with unreadable eyes.  

"Why are you here?" Otabek chose to ask. 

"Seriously?"

Otabek sighed. "Sorry. Thank you for helping me."

"Saving you, yet again."

Otabek didn't respond, possibly a bit too prideful to admit tonight had been saving him. 

Yuri gestured to the window. Otabek saw the cut on his arm was almost healed.  

"I was on my way to our meeting place and saw her come in. What’s wrong with you, by the way? You put up such a fight with me, and she didn't even have to ask."

Right. Otabek had forgotten about the strange beginning to the scuffle. "I’ve been distracted since last night. But also... it's like her eyes reached me without me even seeing her." Otabek put a hand to his heart, remembering the lullaby-like enchantment. “I think my guard is down.”

Otabek stared down at the body, the splats of vampire blood all over his room. He didn't know how to remove the body without dragging it through the stairwell of the apartment or getting another hunter involved.

“Well I’m going to be late to our thing," Otabek said. “I have to clean this up.”

"I’ll take her out for you," Yuri declared. Otabek was admittedly relieved.

Yuri bent down and slipped his arms under the body of the vampire woman, lifting it with only the slightest hint of any strain.

He walked to the open window, and Otabek looked away from the hanging arms of the woman dangling back and forth, waving him a dead good-bye.

"See you soon then," Yuri said.

And then he was gone.

Otabek backed up until he hit the wall and let himself slide to the ground, exhaling a breath he'd been holding since first realizing he invited a random vampire into his home.

His life had spun into a series of very unpredictable encounters since the moment he met Yuri. Yuri, the vampire.

The plan had been for Otabek to make a decision on this alliance after tonight. But with this new event, he was less sure how to feel, for Yuri appeared serious enough about their little pact to jump into Otabek’s room and fight one of his own.   

He shook his head. He could battle with shades of grey all night, but more than anything he needed to have this meeting with Yuri.

After their "talk,” Otabek could only trust he'd make the right decision. He’d still bring items to defend himself in case something went wrong.  

Yuri’s ability to temporarily resist - or bear the pain of, at least - anti-vampire artifacts was worrisome though.

He remembered the flash of determination across Yuri’s face yesterday, before he'd ripped the stake from his arm.

Otabek shivered.

He was making allies with a very powerful vampire - one who may not even be aware of his own strength.

He could not let down his guard with this one, no matter the complacent trust they fictionalized between themselves.

Otabek loaded his gun and stuck it into its holster, and he cleaned his knife and retrieved a new stake to sling under his jacket as well. He cleaned his floor and wall as best he could, though it seemed that vampire blood stained easily. He’d have to get a rug to cover part of his floor if he wanted to never see the splotches of dark that now bloomed in the wood.

~

The night was cloudy. The moon waned and glowed very dim behind a thin layer of clouds.

Otabek walked briskly through the night, coat fluttering out behind him. He kept his hands in his pockets, eyes forward. The streets were faintly lit by weak streetlamps and apartment windows.

He wondered if he should begin conjuring an alibi if a fellow hunter caught him in the open. He could play devil's advocate and pretend he didn't truly understand the dangers of walking the streets alone in the night, although hunters as sharp as Yuuri and Victor wouldn't fall for that lie.

The abandoned building was in a darker corner of a street. Its roof was barely illuminated by the night; no shadow skittered across it now.

The doors opened with a bone-rattling creak, and he ground his teeth together to remind himself he wasn't on a hunt.

Safe from the breeze, Otabek held the door open with his foot and pulled a candle from his pocket to light.

The flame burned as a single star bursting through the dark, and he let the door fall shut. He almost jumped when he noticed Yuri straight away, leaning against the wall several paces from the entrance.

His eyes reflected the candlelight back at Otabek. His hair had fallen back in his face, masking much of his features, except those eyes.

Seeing Yuri standing there in the dark waiting for Otabek stirred something deep inside him. It was dark and strange - a feeling Otabek wasn't familiar with. It twisted in his stomach, though its effect wasn’t sickening.

He ignored himself and nodded to Yuri as a gesture that he was ready to listen.

"Okay," Yuri said. His voice didn't waver with a vampire's flirtatious drawl or hideous hiss, and again Otabek found himself questioning what he understood about these creatures.

"Tell me about your battle with Sal. Just so I know what you know."

Otabek wasn't prepared to be the one to deliver a story. He moved to the other side of the entrance, holding the candle out before him as he leaned against the wall. Distantly, he wondered just how well vampires could see in the dark. To Yuri, did it look like Otabek was bringing a lantern into a brightly lit room?

He pulled from his memory as best he could. "Sal is one of the worst vampires this town has seen. The only other one I’ve known to call its- himself something."

"We all have names," Yuri interrupted.

"Okay," Otabek said. He made note of that.

"Well, we noticed that Sal had a killing pattern. A lot of young people, a lot of children and teenagers. Which is horrible. Killing anyone is horrible, but watching the children die..." Otabek trailed off a moment. He glanced Yuri in the corner of his eye, but he hadn't moved from his position. Either way, Otabek realized he probably wasn't interested in hearing about Otabek’s feelings on the murder and devouring of humanity. He continued.

“So obviously the town was in an uproar. The hunters started specifically pursuing Sal, and one of them died at his hands. So we patrolled in groups. And one night... he came. He was caught fleeing a house after a kill, and we were in the right place at the right time. A battle broke out, but he had... cohorts, I guess. It was two of them, Sal, and then me and three hunters."

"Who died?"

"One of the hunters. The other two vampires. And we thought we killed Sal. But..."

"Who thought they killed Sal?"

Otabek stared into the flame until his temples strained.

"I thought I did."

"That’s right."

Otabek’s eyes narrowed. He looked over at Yuri, but he was distorted by an imprint of the flame. "Were you really there? How much did you see?"

"From a distance. Continue.”

Otabek sighed. "I staked him. But I apparently missed and he faked his death. I remember not being sure I got his heart, and he didn't react the... usual way. But he'd stopped fighting. I’d never seen a vampire stop fighting before until him." Otabek paused. "Or you."

Yuri scoffed. "And then you looked away for a second and he was gone?"

"That’s correct."  

"Okay. I will tell you what Sal started doing back then and what he's still doing now."

Otabek’s legs ached from holding the same position for so long. Yuri stood stalk-still, but Otabek resigned himself to his human weakness and sat on the floor to listen. He sat the candle down in front of him.

"Sal desires power and control. He’s got followers, you're right about that. And he has a lot more now. These vampires, they attack other vampires."

Otabek sat forward. "What?"

“I don't know if you know this, but if a vampire drinks the blood of another vampire, completely drains them, they sort of... get stronger."

Otabek was too shocked to comment, so he waited for Yuri to continue, eyes back to the flickering flame and wax dripping slowly down the candle.

"Not permanently. You have to keep it up. But you can't just drink that to sustain yourself. It doesn’t take away the hunger. So you're suddenly killing humans  _ and _ vampires."

"So why do you care?"

Yuri snorted. "It’s hard enough to survive as it is. Creating a war between ourselves? And I mean, humans are pretty soft, but I’m not dumb enough to believe humans wouldn't start clearing us out with explosives dropped on whole towns. You’d all kill each other to get rid of just a few of us." Yuri moved, stepping away from the wall with a wide swing of his leg.

Otabek watched, mind still absorbing this new information. Yuri crossed the space between them with thumbs hooked into pants. The fabric dragged down some, exposing the pale skin of his hips.

Otabek had thought this already, but of all the vampires he’s encountered, Yuri was definitely the most physically deadly. He imagined an average townsperson fell hard for his seductions.

Yuri stopped in front of Otabek and dropped to a crouch, forearms resting across his extended knees. He looked directly and fearlessly into Otabek’s space, head almost above the candle flame. "I want him fucking gone before his ideology gets out of this shitty place." Yuri grinned. "Can you help me with that?"

"Why did you think I’d want to?" Otabek knew the answer to this, he thought. But he wanted to hear it. Wanted to grasp a vampire's progression of thought and reasoning.

Yuri’s nose scrunched as he laughed briefly. He didn't do Otabek the justice of answering right away, instead choosing to graze across Otabek’s entire body with his eyes. Otabek swallowed hard, wondering for the millionth time what it was like inside Yuri’s head. Inside a vampire's head.

He didn't wait to reach Otabek’s eyes to talk. Instead, he settled on his throat.

Perhaps Yuri just really liked messing with him.

"Because I figured the town’s oh-so heroic vampire slayer would want another chance at the one that got away. And because now, if you don't help and I get fucking attacked by one of those freaks, there's a good chance I’ll buy my way out with the ton of information I have on you. And don’t forget I have easy access to your place now." His expression twisted into a lopsided grin as he finally met Otabek’s eyes.

So there it was. Blackmail. The evil emerging from the creature at last.

Otabek didn't back away though. Hell no. In fact, two could play at this game; he leaned forward, forearms on his own knees, until he felt the heat of the candle under his chin.

"And when we've killed Sal? When then?"

Yuri’s eyes widened, and Otabek was sure he saw his pupils dilate. The grin on Yuri’s face spread, if possible, tongue briefly licking his lower lip before he spoke. "For that, maybe we should wait to see how we feel about each other when the time comes."

Otabek recognized that dilated, wild look in Yuri’s eyes. The way he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering his body, along his throat, from coming so close to him as if still toying with his food.

It was a vampire's hunger. Yuri wanted Otabek, badly. But somehow he wanted a great evil defeated first, and he'd have that before trying to take him. It would likely be a perverse show for Yuri - to have Otabek fight alongside him. Maybe he thought Otabek wouldn't see through his facades and would trust him completely one day, only to be his demise in the end.

But Otabek wanted to kill Yuri as much as Yuri wanted to kill him. At the end of it all, they'd fight each other. He understood that, and there was no use thinking beyond the matter. By then they would have no doubt learned so much about the other to make for a very interesting fight.

"All right," Otabek agreed. "And you mentioned making it worth my while. Anything you'd be able to give me in the meantime?"

Yuri almost seemed thrown off a moment, likely thinking he had Otabek wound tight in his web. But he didn't falter for long.

"I’m a vampire, Otabek." He said his name slowly, almost musically. "I imagine I can lend you all sorts of secrets."

"That’s all I wanted to hear." Otabek smiled. "We’ve got a deal." He extended his hand.

Yuri backed away from it briefly, as if he suspected Otabek to be shoving a silver-bullet-loaded gun into his space.

He took his hand after a second, and Otabek noted it was still warmer than their first meeting.

They shook.

"I have two questions about how Sal does things," Otabek added as they let go.

"Hm?" Yuri didn't move from his close, observant stare over Otabek.

"First, does draining a vampire of blood kill it?"

"You know it doesn't," Yuri answered. He was right. "Wouldn’t that be ironically convenient for you? Nah, you become a mindless husk, literally just going for kill after kill, no longer able to think for yourself. That’s what I’ve gathered from what I have seen. You’ve probably dealt with some of those."

Otabek certainly had, and this explained some of his confusion over the sheer difference between the levels of sophistication of Yuri compared to some... others.

"Your next question?"

"Why did Sal go after children?"

Yuri’s eye finally seemed to fade back into the moment. He leaned back a little.

"Because they taste the best."

Otabek’s gut swirled with a great measure of anger and horror. For a moment he thought he'd throw his deal with the devil away, snatch his stake and kill it then and there.

"Or so I’ve been told," Yuri added with a smirk. Otabek did not smile back.

Yuri rolled back on his feet and lifted himself to standing again.

"I know where some of these vampires are hiding out. I don't know where Sal is though."

Otabek raised himself to his feet, too, taking the candle with him.

"We should train first."

"What? I’m not-"

"I think we'd benefit," Otabek continued. "You’re working with me now. I’m not some..." he sighed, backtracking. "My abilities are based on training and thought, not instinct. And it's really fucking weird and I never thought I’d ever say this to a vampire, but after tonight, we just might make a good team."

Yuri’s eyes were wide on him again, but this time it wasn't for some cheap thrill at checking him out. He blinked a few times before slumping into his typical, mischievous demeanor. "All right, all right. So when do we start this training?"

Otabek looked into the empty room they'd been occupying the edge of.

"Why not now?"

Yuri backed a few steps away, rolling his shoulders and stretching his back. He seemed to be losing the threads of humanity he maintained by the moment, becoming loose and cat-like. "All right, human," he teased. "Empty the silver from that gun and you've got yourself a deal." Otabek blinked, but Yuri was already lost to the dark. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> catch me at [skateonme](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/) on tumblr and over [here](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon) on twitter, where i'm currently tweeting out some travel adventures


	3. Chapter 3

Otabek woke well-past sunrise.

Bleary-eyed, he sat up in his bed, only aware of the present for several moments. Then the previous day flowed into his mind.

It must be past noon. He’d stayed out with Yuri until the vampire’s head whipped toward the broken-glass windows of the building.

"Sunrise," he'd muttered. They’d bid a brief farewell and agreed to meet the following night in the same place.

Otabek yawned, still not fully rested. He was used to long nights, but maybe not quite as long as the one he endured with Yuri.

Training deemed worthy; Otabek was right about that. Yuri was already teaching him a lot about a vampire’s perception and senses, and Otabek was telling Yuri how to overcome some of them, and how each vampire seemed to have a slightly different approach to fighting.

It’d be harder for Yuri to fight, considering in-battle he couldn't handle the weaponry Otabek used without harm to himself.

Otabek avoided the topic of the times Yuri had tried to do just that.

The day ahead of Otabek was free until nightfall. He spent his first few hours cleaning his equipment and the still-ravaged parts of his bedroom.

Around 3:00, there was a knock on his door.

"It’s Yuuri," the person beyond it said as Otabek’s footsteps creaked up to it.

Otabek opened it just enough to fit his face in the doorway. "Good morning - afternoon, Yuuri."

"Hey Otabek." Yuuri smiled. His cheeks were tinged pink. He seemed small in his hunting apparel, black trench coat falling to his knees. "Just wanted to check in with you."

"I’m fine. Thank you."

Yuuri glanced past him; Otabek worried he intended to come in.

"How are things at the station?" he tried to distract him.

Eyes back on Otabek, Yuuri sighed. "They’re okay. Minako really wants Victor and I to search for the vampire you encountered. She’s been trying to knock every detail of it out of JJ, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s hiding well.”

"I’m sure it will be stumbled upon soon," Otabek agreed. "Anything I can help you with right now?"

Yuuri tried to glance behind Otabek again. "Are you sure you’re doing okay?"

Otabek nodded. "I suspect you'll be hearing from me soon actually. About work."

Yuuri’s face seemed to brighten at this news. It apparently satisfied his concern.

"Okay!" he stepped back, giving Otabek a small salute. "Take your time! I hope we see you soon."

Otabek said his good-bye and shut the door.

He was creating a pile of lies. They sat heavy and toxic in his stomach like tar, prepared to ensnare more words.

~

“Each vampire will try to hypnotize you a little differently. Some are weaker than others. But I’ll do my best." Yuri rolled his head around on his neck. "Try to resist, of course."

“Why was that woman’s so strong?”

“Perhaps she does what Sal does. Or maybe she was just good at that in particular.”

"So you've never had the blood of another vampire?" Otabek asked. He’d been wondering.

"Gross. No." Yuri’s eyes went dark without giving Otabek warning.

Already he felt himself tugged into his gaze. Yuri ran his hands back through his hair, and Otabek swallowed hard. His sanity and focus were both shoved and bound tight in a corner within his mind.

Yuri smiled with teeth, licking his lips slowly. Otabek’s eyes couldn't help but follow. His mind was overcome with the idea that everything about Yuri seemed harmless and divine.

The bound thoughts squirmed far away.

Yuri still wore his tattered clothes. The moon was risen again tonight, and it splayed across Yuri’s body with graceful beauty; the moon and Yuri were a juxtaposition, two very different types of lovely that meshed and made sense in some strange way. Like cold wind in a forest, or the suffocating darkness of a lake at night.

Yuri said something that Otabek couldn't hear. Yuri’s eyes were simply too spell-binding. It wasn't an actual spell, of course. But it felt like magic, the way a predator could practically paralyze its prey with a gaze and a low hiss.

Right. Predator and prey... something ripped free inside Otabek.

He’d moved meters away from Yuri to being face-to-face, practically touching him. Otabek felt something under his hand and looked down.

His hand was, in fact, on Yuri’s waist, the tips of his fingers grazing cool skin between the ripped fabric of his shirt. He stumbled back.

"That happened so fast," he gasped.

"Not really," Yuri said, sounding bored. "You really slowly moved over to me. Honestly, it's creepy to just watch a human get all lustful like that without me trying to, you know. Do my part." He shuddered. Otabek dropped his gaze to the ground, fighting the terrifying reddening of his face.

"It was amazing you resisted at the end. Without me expending any energy on fighting you, I was putting a lot into that. I see how you resisted me when we met so well.”

They carried on with that type of training for several days, meeting in the night to test each other's limits against the other.

However Otabek became impatient for real progress. Their training was mostly to help him resist the lure of a vampire and predict the fluidity of their motions. There wasn't much Yuri could learn against a fight of his own from Otabek.  

Their true worth as a battling duo would be tested once they actually hunted together.

The whole thing still sounded unbelievable to Otabek. To be hunting vampires - with a vampire.

He twisted away from Yuri’s attack from behind and nearly ran into him as the mouth of his gun jabbed Yuri’s chest. Yuri faltered and stared down at it. As he looked up again to give Otabek a proud smirk, Otabek wondered what grace he'd fallen from to make this union.

Yuri was keeping his end of the bargain up well, and Otabek figured if a vampire could avoid double-crossing an enemy, so could he.

But again - he was tiring of these late night excursions, and itched to slay again. Perhaps he felt killing a vampire now would prove to himself he wasn't all bad for trusting one.

"I have an idea," Otabek declared. "Before it gets much later."

Yuri stood straighter. He was cast in shadow at the edge of a strip of moonlight falling in from the roof.  "How close to sunrise can you tolerate?"

Yuri squinted, shuddering. "What exactly are you wanting?"

~

"I think I changed my mind."

Otabek rolled his eyes. "Then what do I do with these?" He pushed the folded clothes and shoes to Yuri, who stepped away with a look of disgust.

"Why do you wear all that? I can't imagine it's comfortable."

"And what are you wearing now?" He glanced over the old pants, the shredded shirt.

"Enough clothes," Yuri growled.

"Is that the stuff you got turned in?"

"Are you asking me about when I was  _ turned _ , human?" Yuri looked pointedly away.

Otabek pressed the clothes toward him again. "Do you want to talk about that?"  

Yuri snorted and snatched the clothes from him so fast that Otabek almost got pulled in. "That’s personal," he said. "So I put these on and you're sure no one will notice me?"

"You’ll look like a brooding hunter."

"So, like you." Otabek only pursed his lips to that comment; he currently felt all the brood and none the hunter.

Yuri took steps toward the window. "I’ll meet you here right before  _ sunrise _ ." He said the last word with a grimace.

"Where are you going?"

Yuri was half out the window. "What I do when I’m not with you isn't your business." Then he was gone.

Otabek walked to the window and put his head out, not expecting to see Yuri, and he surely did not.

The moon still waned in the sky, but soon enough morning would be pressing in, and he and Yuri would try Otabek’s idea.

~

"Oh," Otabek breathed.

Yuri stood outside his apartment, dressed in the jacket Otabek had given him. 

He’d also given him shoes; he simply couldn’t prowl around on bare feet without causing concern.

He hadn’t expected the leather jacket to make so much of a difference though. It looked actually good on him, especially as he already had his hands stuffed in the pockets as he pouted at the ground. 

Yuri stubbornly kept it hanging open, but it was enough so that the typical passerby wouldn’t notice how out of place he was.

The point was for Yuri to blend in better when they hunted at night.

And for their idea now, of course.

The morning was still grey, but hopefully they'd catch the market as it just opened so Yuri wouldn't have to risk this long.

"I hope you're happy," Yuri said when Otabek didn't respond further.

"This look suits you," was all Otabek said. He started walking, and Yuri trailed after, mumbling something about the weight of the new garment.

His shoulders jumped as the building to a door opened.

"You have to try to blend in," Otabek whispered.

"I’m doing my fucking best." Yuri tried to glare at him, but turned away fast. "It’s so fucking bright." Dark shadows hid beneath Yuri’s eyes. He looked exhausted. Otabek almost felt bad, but he smothered the sentiment.

"Just keep your head down. The sun doesn’t actually rise for half an hour.”

The nerves rose in Otabek as the streets filled. He was hyper-aware of the demon in-step beside him. No one would suspect a vampire to be walking the streets right before daylight, but Otabek felt every glance their way was someone sensing the predator lurking nearby.

Otabek himself was a distraction. A hunter walking the streets this early in the day was an unusual sight, and usually meant a killing had occurred recently. Some people waved at him, even fewer said hello. Most withdrew, treating him like the omen of vampires he was. Certainly so, now.

They arrived at their destination as the shopkeeper was unlocking the door.

"Ah," Mr. Clyden said with a pleasant smile their way. "Good morning, Hunter Otabek and -"

"Good morning," Otabek interrupted. He tried an extra-warm smile to distract from the fact that Yuri was avidly avoiding eye contact. "This is my new apprentice. Ah - Yurio."  

Yuri’s shoulders froze, and Otabek wanted to kick himself for the hideously stupid alias.

"Well as always, thank you for your services." The shopkeeper held the door for them. “Come in.”

Upon several steps inside, Yuri’s body went rigid under the jacket. Otabek stood between him and the shopkeeper and pretended to be browsing intently among the items laid out on a table.

The place was small, with a few shelves and a table covered in supposed vampire repellent charms and talismans. Some of it was ridiculous, like bags mixed with herbs and garlic and ground silver, which were usually sold to citizens to keep on themselves as a general repellant.

Otabek got his silver bullets and items from here, and Mr. Clyden had religious leaders bless the stakes he sold. Granting anything with some sort of faith made it a better weapon against a vampire, just as the faith one had that their home would keep them safe kept the creatures out.

Until it didn’t.

Either way, not all the items Mr. Clyden sold were legitimately useful; fear definitely created a profit for him.

The plan was for Yuri to choose what was most effective for Otabek to buy. And so this was Yuri’s time to browse, and Otabek’s job to distract Mr. Clyden from noticing the vampire causing items to glint around the shop.

Otabek pressed himself to the counter as soon as Mr. Clyden was behind it. "Could I get another can of silvers?"

"Well sure!" He reached to a shelf behind him to get Otabek’s usual bulk amount.

"How has business been? I haven't been here in a couple weeks."

"Ah, well," Mr. Clyden said with a frown. "Normal, but I expect today we'll be busy."

"Why is that?" Otabek thumbed the wallet in his pocket. Mr. Clyden placed the canister to the side of the counter.

"Is this all, or is Mr. Yurio gettin' something?"

"Letting him pick out his own stuff. So why good business today?"

"Good business from bad business," the shopkeeper emphasized. Usually Otabek would be annoyed by this slow progression of conversation, but today he went with it.

"Ah, um. Yes, is there a general reason fear would be high today?"

"Oh." Mr. Clyden paused in writing out a receipt for Otabek. He tried to glance behind Otabek, but Otabek shifted in his way. "You haven't heard? Ms. Clarke was done in last night."

That news hit Otabek like a brick. "Wait, what?"

Mr. Clyden nodded, eyes glistening. "Yeah, found her dead an hour ago. Well - bitten dead. They’re burning her now."

"Oh my god," Otabek clutched his wallet. "Hell."

"Sure was hell. It’s terrifying, one striking this close to the middle of the town. Wonder about my own life every time I shut my eyes."

Yuri was suddenly at Otabek’s side, slapping items onto the counter with shaky hands. He withdrew them quickly and stepped back.

"Um, those will do," he said in his most normal, timid voice.

"This is all then," Otabek confirmed. He put an arm between Yuri and Mr. Clyden to shove the items forward.

He observed what Yuri had chosen as the shopkeeper made note and added the prices.

A silver dagger with specific engravings, another stake, and one of the small cloth bags.

Otabek paid and stowed everything under his coat.

Despite wanting to question Yuri on what he'd chosen, Otabek let several minutes of silence wedge between them.

Another killing - if he hadn't been out with Yuri the night before, maybe Ms. Clarke would still be alive. The idea made motivation swell in Otabek like the first deep breath after waking up. He’d be back at the game soon, and he'd kill whichever motherfucker took the life of Ms. Clarke.

"Did you know her?" Yuri asked. "The human who died."

"The human who was killed. And yes, she helped run an orphanage."

"Ah, I see."

"Whatever killed her, I swear." He sighed. Yuri said nothing to this, and Otabek decided it was time to address their success.

"So what'd we get?"

"Things that made me want to fucking drain my own blood.”

"Are you doing okay?"

"I need to sleep."

They paused speaking as a woman sweeping outside her shop waved. Otabek managed a smile in return.

"What’s in that bag?" Otabek asked.

"No clue. It’s horrible. I think he had some sort of animal piss on whatever's in there? I was going to recommend you keep that outside your window when you don't plan on me coming. I’m going to faint."

"Uh." Otabek’s apartment was in sight now. "Can you make it... wherever you go on your own? I can walk you-"

"NO."

Yuri stepped away from Otabek’s side. "I’m leaving now," he said fast. "See you tonight, Otabek. Let’s have our first hunt."

Yuri disappeared into the shadows of an alleyway.

Otabek had half a mind to follow him to make sure he got somewhere safe.

But he didn't.

~

They met under the half moon. 

Yuri stood across the street like the killer in the night that he was. As Otabek approached, the moonlight shone through Yuri’s eyes. It reminded Otabek of some feral animal watching through the woods.

He was still wearing the jacket at least.  

They acknowledged each other with a nod.

Otabek followed Yuri to the edge of town, where Yuri knew one of Sal’s cohorts was dwelling. 

The town was dead after dark, as always. Otabek listened for the familiar sound of an attack. And he wondered if Yuri would join him in his cause if he was spurred by another vampire, perhaps not one of Sal’s. 

“He’s in there,” Yuri said.

They were standing behind a building corner. Otabek was in front, his head out just enough to assess the place they were breaking into. It was a sewing store. Yuri stood behind Otabek, pressed to the bricks of the wall.

"He killed one of us last night," Yuri said. "You know, 'killed'."

"Will the victim be an issue?"

"Don’t know, so watch your back. If I catch the scent of a second one I’ll tell you."

Someone across the street drew back their curtains. Otabek and Yuri didn't move as yellow light hit the cobbles of the road in front of them, not quite reaching them. 

Whoever it was must have noticed them lurking at the edge of their light or saw something else, because the curtains promptly shut.

Otabek hoped he wasn't recognized; he'd failed to report to the station that he was back on the job, and if someone noticed Otabek with another hunter - well, Otabek had a few cheap alibis for that. But he needed to be careful. 

"Are you ready?"

"Only waiting on you."

"Go,” Otabek commanded. They both stepped out into the street with brisk steps. Otabek slipped his gun out of its hilt and dropped it to his side; Yuri’s hands were stuffed in his pockets. 

A breeze swept in, curving around their target building and catching both their coats into waving fabrics behind them, flags signaling their own arrival. 

Yuri’s chest rose as he inhaled the breeze. 

"There’s two. Him and the other."

Otabek clutched his gun tighter. The moon cast a sheen on the building’s facade, and in the night it stuck out of the ground like a tombstone.

The porch creaked as they stepped onto it.  

“How’d he get in here?” Otabek asked. 

“This isn’t some place someone calls a home I guess.”

“Ah.”

“He’s probably been stowing himself in an attic or something.”

Otabek tried the basic option first - he gently twisted the door knob. It was locked. 

“He probably gets in through a hole somewhere. Or a window.” Yuri was already backing up, eyes darting across the storefront. His expression was scrunching into a snarl, and his hands were withdrawn from his pockets, fingers extended. 

“Wait, I deal with this all the time.” Yuri’s eyes locked onto the side of building, and he looked about to dart off that way. 

“Yuri,” Otabek snapped, struggling to maintain a whisper. 

“They know,” Yuri said. 

The lock clicked. 

Otabek had only one option, and that was to act fast against the suppositions of what was inside. He twisted the knob - and then kicked the door open. He grabbed a flare from his jacket and slashed it against the wall as the door flew back with a slam. It lit with a sparking hiss not long before Otabek tossed it inside and barged into the shop. 

He sensed Yuri whisk past behind him.

Gun before him, Otabek scanned the room, shadows of furniture and cabinets dancing wildly in the small light of the flare. Everything looked like something sinister. Yuri was now nowhere in sight. 

Movement triggered a new shadow to move across the floor.

He turned to see reflective eyes disappear behind the front counter; the movement was trailed by a low growling. Something told Otabek this was not their main target - but they needed it to go down. 

From the other room there was a crash, and the vampire hiding from Otabek jumped onto the counter. It bared fangs and made a sound somewhere between a hiss and a growl; its eyes were nearly wholly black, and its skin was so pale it was blueish, almost like the creature was rotting. Truly something undead, killed twice. 

These poor, mindless things, Otabek thought as it recklessly lunged at him and he blasted a shot into its chest. 

It crumpled to the floor in a gangly slap of limbs, another gargled hiss tearing from its lips as it struggled to drag itself up. Its eyes didn't move from Otabek as if it couldn't think beyond the hunger it felt. 

Otabek shot it down again in the shoulder; both bullets fizzled lodged in its flesh, shimmering bright like white embers stuck in its skin. The vampire only howled louder and tried to crawl toward him. 

Otabek kicked it back - with stake in hand, he stabbed into its chest and put his weight behind the wood, teeth gritting against the strangled screech the vampire made. Until finally, it was silent. 

There was another crash in the other room, and so he made no attempt to analyze the vampire further as he took off, gun back in hand. The flare was dying, but he could see a small amount of light filtering in from the next entryway. 

He entered in time to see Yuri as he was flung backward - he landed in a crouch, nails catching the wood of the floor to steady himself.

Yuri glared with bared teeth at something across the room. Without pause, Otabek whirled around and fired his gun. The bullet missed, because the vampire was suddenly beside him.

Otabek could tell he was taller than him, and the vampire looked like he was on the brink of whispering something, probably a taunt. Otabek felt the darkness shiver, his senses being lured into believing he was in a peaceful place. His whole consciousness threatened to pull out from under him.

He kept his goal in front of him and pulled away fast, clouds rising from his mind with the distance put between them.

Something clanged across the floor, Otabek realizing one of his knives had fallen from his belt. It was the new one, with engravings that Yuri swore made his head dizzy. It hadn’t fit perfectly in the sheath he had.

Yuri snatched it by the end of its handle and rose up to meet Otabek. 

There they were again: Otabek and Yuri, shoulder-to-shoulder and staring down a common foe. 

The vampire they stood against now was definitely strong - he had been a younger man, Otabek assumed. His skin was tight over his face and his gangly form looked like he was probably unattractive in life; he'd only been scarcely blessed with a vampire's beauty. 

"Why do you side with the humans?" His question was directed obviously to Yuri, who tilted his head slightly to Otabek.

"After you," Yuri whispered.

Otabek fired another shot despite knowing he'd be too slow doing so directly in front of their enemy; he made the assumption that the vampire would dart farther into the room instead of out. He was correct, except the vampire still moved fast enough to dodge his next bullet. Otabek couldn't waste ammo all night on him. 

He slipped his gun back into its hilt and grabbed another stake just as the vampire took a jump toward him. Otabek cut him off with a jab that was dodged, but then the vampire cursed at something else.

A white light glinted below, and Otabek grinned as he saw Yuri had gashed the knife into the vampire’s leg

"It is not a fair fight!" the vampire yelled, taking a swing at Otabek. With the stake, Otabek whacked his arm away. 

Yuri was strangely good at tripping things up and knocking them down; Otabek had already learned that the hard way.

Yuri yanked the vampire's now bleeding leg from under him, and he went down. Otabek came down hard with the stake; flailing arms reached up to block him too late. 

Like before, Yuri looked away at the death of a vampire as it smoked and fizzled. Otabek backed away from the mess, too. 

"He wasn't too hard," Otabek said. 

Yuri snickered at that, standing up and wiping his hands against his pants. The moon had almost passed the view of the window, and Yuri was mostly in shadow. "He struck me as sort of stupid. Though I’ve noticed they get thrown off by me being here, too. Because suddenly it doesn't matter if they can get to you because I won't let them. Speaking of which, how was the other one?" 

"Taken care of."

"And we have to burn them?" 

"Unfortunately, to not confuse the public. If it was just one, I would stake out here until morning and have the townspeople help me get rid of them. But I don't know how to explain taking down two on my own. We should get rid of at least one."

"Well I can carry him," Yuri kicked his foot into the body. “Just take me to wherever you want.”

~

"I’m signing back on," Otabek said. "Considering last night."

Otabek stood inside the station. Minako, their boss, was the only one manning the place this morning. She was the hardest to fool. 

"Ah, yes." She didn't look up from the papers she was writing on until she said, "Lucky you stumbled upon one last night."

"It wasn't a very challenging fight.”

"Mhm." Minako stayed peering at him over her glasses a few moments longer - Otabek held her stare, eyes unwavering and waiting. Minako had a hard exterior, but once you had her respect, it was hard to lose it. 

Otabek was pretty sure she at least...  _ mostly _ respected him. Though she'd never quite learned to treat his presence as casually as she did the others. 

She set her pen down and sat back. "Well, good to have you back on the force, Otabek." She held out her hand, and Otabek was eerily reminded of Yuri’s grip that wavered between warm and cold. But they shook, and Minako’s hand was very warm. "And you'll be taking JJ back?"

"That’s another thing I wanted to discuss with you. After the bad night we had, I think I should take a break from mentoring. I put him at risk."

She frowned again, hair falling down her shoulder as she tilted her head to stare at him from the side.

“A problem?" he prodded. He needed to get back outside. The sun would rise soon.

"Fine," she said at last. "I’ll let JJ know. He’ll be here soon. Let me know when you feel back up to the job."

Otabek agreed and left, though he felt her eyes on his back several steps beyond the doors. 

The morning was soft and grey – a mist descendant from the cool morning, complimented by the heavy clouds that hung low in the sky. There was a tinge of storm to the air. They hadn't had rain in a week, so it was due. 

People were filling the streets nonetheless, but they hurried through their chores, wary of the morning light that wouldn’t get the chance to break.

Otabek felt to be walking a step above them all, living along some other wavelength. Not quite here, but not quite anywhere else, either.

He was almost turning the corner on the block the station sat on when he heard his name called by a familiar voice.

He sighed. Minako certainly hadn't taken long to complete her task. 

"Otabek, hold on a sec." JJ jogged up to Otabek from behind, a little too out of breath for a would-be hunter. "Minako told me, I came in right after you."

"JJ, I-"

"Wait," JJ put a hand up to cut him off. Then, as if it would be comforting, he placed his hand on Otabek’s shoulder and squeezed. 

Otabek flinched under the touch.

"I understand, I do. Thank you for looking out for me. And... I promise, the first vampire I intend to track down is the one from that night. I remember what it looked like. I won't forget, and I’ll find it."

Silence edged between them while Otabek’s mind stirred through what to say, a mixture of guilt thrown into that mess. 

He decided on his best attempt at a smile. "Take care of yourself, JJ." He pulled from JJ’s hand as he stepped away. 

When Otabek turned the corner, Yuri fell into step beside him, face down and out of view.  

At least Yuri walked alongside Otabek on that mysterious wavelength. 

"Do I have anything to worry about?" he asked. 

Otabek watched the stone road pass underneath his feet, not needing to think about his answer, but stalling anyway. Perhaps to ease his guilt.

"No," he said.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)   
>  [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon/)
> 
> thanks for the hype!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Otabek began reporting their kills back to the station, denying any help from the other hunters with the same excuse of wanting to work alone. Everyone allowed this without argument, mostly because he was suddenly very successful on the job.

Otabek wished he could discard Hollow Station altogether; it was a burden to be constantly lying and dodging questions.

But he required their financial support, and one day he would be a normal employee again. One day.

As the warm months began to lay over for the cooler ones and he and Yuri still failed to locate Sal, that day seemed more and more distant. 

They were kept busy though.

"To the left and down," Yuri ordered, and Otabek blasted his gun in that direction, eyes turned away. The flare was near-spent, and the sky was void of moon tonight. " _ Ew _ , take care of that." Yuri tossed him his stake, its glow going shy as he did so, before whipping back around to catch another vampire in the stomach with a backward kick of his foot. 

Otabek looked at his hit and grimaced, seeing the grotesque sight that even had Yuri disturbed. He kicked a hand trying to reach for him and brought down the stake. 

The other one slid past along the floor and slammed into the wall with the force Yuri had landed on it. Otabek took the moment of its impact to shoot it through. It let out a wail, and Otabek began to reach for yet another stake when something slammed into him from the side. He rolled with it, feeling the set of eyes so near try to pry into his mind and lock his muscles.

Otabek took the momentum of their roll to kick it off him, but bony hands clung tight into the fabric of his jacket.

The figure writhed to try and drag itself up Otabek. 

With a laugh, Yuri pounced onto the vampire, and they fought in a scramble until suddenly it was pinned down by Yuri long enough for Otabek to land a stake through its chest, too. 

They finished off the other and discarded the bodies at the edge of town where they were burned.

They’d grown stronger as teammates and nearly always had the advantage in battle when vampires were confused by Yuri’s presence.

Most of what they fought were the unfortunate victims of other vampires; Otabek wondered if these were growing in numbers or if Yuri sought them out before hunting more sentient ones.

It was impressed upon Otabek that Yuri was prepared to kill any vampire; Otabek would believe this easily, as he was raised with the assumption vampires were cold, heartless things. But Yuri quietly looked away at Otabek’s stake plunging into their chests, and he averted his eyes from their lifeless faces as they moved the bodies.

They walked back into town together. The night was mature and still, and chill clung to the autumn darkness.

“Does killing them bother you?” Otabek dared to ask.

Yuri’s head whipped to him and his eyes narrowed. Otabek caught the way Yuri’s hair flipped with the quick motion. His glare cut through the thin air and plucked a chord in Otabek’s chest.

“No,” he answered after a pause.

Otabek waited for more words but it didn’t seem Yuri was planning to continue.

There had to be more though.

They passed a streetlamp burning. The light flickered across Yuri scanning the street.

The turn of his head let Otabek see his neck, and just below the fall of Yuri’s hair, Otabek noticed two distinctive, pale, long-healed puncture wounds. The bite had scarred rather than heal fully: an ode to the deadliness of a vampire’s venom.

Why hadn’t he noticed the scars before?

He tried to imagine Yuri human again, dazed and lost in the arms of someone who drained him of life. Had Yuri tried to fight? Or had it been over fast?

Who was it?

It didn’t matter, and perhaps Yuri didn’t even know. He likely woke up alone somewhere, the darkness suddenly bright as day, mind filled with a hunger like no other.

The thought was sad.

~

Clouds smothered the sky. Otabek was in a part of town where many of the street lamps had burnt out; his eyes strained to see more than the angular outlines of buildings. Mostly he trusted Yuri and let him lead them through the dark.

“There,” Yuri said in a quick but hushed tone. He pointed over the rooftops at the end of the street.

To Otabek there was just the vague shape of a roof under the sky.

“What was it?”

“Saw something run across. There’s a light on downstairs.” Yuri sounded disappointed, not ever eager to deal with other humans.

Yuri stood halfway behind Otabek as he knocked on the door.

Light fell into the street as a man opened it partway and peered out.

“Sir,” Otabek nodded in greeting, “I’ve noticed-”

“I know you,” the man said, finger pointed to Otabek’s chest. “You’re one of our hunters. What brings you?”

His eyes hit Yuri after the question was out. “I don’t recognize-“

Otabek was used to this by now. “An assistant from another town. Do you have someone else inside?”

Townspeople were always too alarmed by the suggestion of an attack on their family to actually remember which hunters met them.

Another man came up behind the man. His eyes widened when he registered the hunters at their door.

“Just our daughter. She should be asleep. Is- is something wrong?”

“Yes, we may have seen someone enter your home.”

The men gaped with frozen expressions that didn’t thaw even as they stepped aside and let the door swing open.

Now for the slight manipulation.

“And my assistant too? You’re sure?”

“What? Of course! Come IN,  _ please _ .”

Yuri rushed past the two men and into the home; Otabek brushed between them and followed Yuri inside, letting Yuri’s quicker senses guide them through. The house was only a room and kitchen, and then a small hall lined with wood doors.

Yuri stopped at the mouth of the hall and looked quietly between both walls. One of the men began to speak something, voice trembling, but Otabek didn’t catch the words.

He stepped behind Yuri, listening to the silence. Then Yuri nodded toward the second door on their right. In a few strides, they swung it open.

It was dark inside the room, though light from the rest of the house bled in. There were two figures on the bed.

The vampire had yet to let their teeth sink into the girl they held, though the girl was entranced, her arms around their neck.

Long hair from the vampire fell onto the shoulders of the girl.

The vampire’s head snapped up at the intrusion, fangs already bared in a hiss.

“You two are the ones.”

The girl in their arms blinked.

They were on the vampire in seconds, Yuri separating the girl from the grasp with Otabek reaching for his stake.

Yuri didn’t like missions that dealt with removing a vampire from an active home. Otabek didn’t need to guess why; still, as Yuri dragged the dead vampire into the night and Otabek calmed the family, including the young woman who was still alive, he felt immensely glad he could still actively save people.

He wouldn’t tell Yuri, but after so many battles fought alongside him, Otabek found it hard to imagine this routine without him again.

But that was a dangerous thought.

Of course they didn’t meet every night. No – there were nights Otabek needed rest, but also ones Yuri kept to himself. Otabek tried not to think upon those.

He stepped out into the night after receiving a final praise of gratitude from the family. He’d meet Yuri down a street, and they’d head toward the edge of town together with vampire in tow.

~

As they made their way back from the edge of town it started to snow. Light flakes at first. Then it got heavier, the sky dumping down the first snow of the season until it could be heard pelting into the ground.

Otabek pulled his jacket tighter around himself. Yuri’s wasn’t even fastened in the front. His expression was unreadable as it usually was when not merely frustrated; he didn’t even seem to notice snowflakes catching in his lashes.

The street ahead was lit by a rectangle of light pouring out from a bar, the only type of place that would risk keeping doors open late into the night. It was assumed by many that alcohol in the bloodstream was not appealing to vampires, and that was enough to keep them away from anyone dragging themselves home after drinking.

Otabek nearly asked Yuri if that idea was true when they stepped into view of the window and Otabek glanced inside.

Minako was sitting inside at a table near the window, mug in front of her; she was across from a woman Otabek hadn't seen before.

It was silly, but alarm at the sight of his boss struck through him. He grabbed Yuri by the wrist and pulled him back into the space where the light didn't touch down.

"Wait," he whispered. "Don't go over there."

Yuri ripped his wrist away. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He held his hand back as if Otabek might make another grab for it.

"Mina- I mean, my boss is in there by the window."

He looked to the window a moment, then back to Otabek with a sneer. "Are you kidding me? She can't see us out here, it's too bright in there. Plus she looks drunk."

He was right, she did _. _ She leaned back and laughed at something the other woman said, her chair almost tipping before she grabbed the edge of the table and yanked herself back down.

Somehow that made this worse.

Otabek didn't know how to voice that Minako always had a way of noticing trouble, and the fact that he'd sneaked under her radar this long was actually a miracle.

"Trust me, let's just cut back through the alley a ways back."

Yuri's entire body cocked to the side. Instead of saying anything, he studied Otabek with a scrupulous gaze.

"What? Let's go." Otabek glanced back toward the window. Minako was invested in her conversation and drink, but the sheer nearness of her to them kept his caution high.

"I haven't realized it until now," Yuri said carefully, a lurid smile forming on his face, "but you've never been actually scared around me until now. How do you do that?"

"I'm not scared," he defended all too-quick. "Just concerned."

"I know when a human is scared, Otabek. Or at least I thought - but you're definitely scared of that woman."

He gathered himself to argue, but his heart threw a heavy beat at him for the intense way Yuri's eyes laid on him, like his supposed fear was intoxicating. He tangled with the thought only a second before pushing it away just as fast.

Yuri's grin had mostly dissipated into a tight purse of his lips. Otabek watched him visibly swallow before deciding he needed to bring them back to their conversation - and the fact that they needed to get out of there.

"If I am scared, it’d be because she wouldn't hesitate to kill both of us." Yuri could flaunt himself into the light if he wished, but Otabek turned around and started off back down the street.

Yuri recovered himself and kept pace easily. "You, maybe. I doubt she could kill me."

"It's hard for me to imagine a world where she'd see me dead but not you."

The snow blew against them this way. Cold flakes melted across Otabek's face. His eyes remained averted down to avoid the drifts.

"She didn't look that tough. We could take her together, if it came to it." Yuri was joking - he was clearly joking, but Otabek grimaced.

"That's... not funny."

The world felt darker, the snow pelting into him colder.

They were only allied under the goal of killing Sal, nothing else. If a confrontation occurred and Otabek had to choose between Yuri and one of the other hunters, then…

They'd agreed from the very beginning how this would all end. It didn’t seem very possible now, though.

Otabek glanced up through the snow streaks at Yuri, his face from the side no longer smirking at him like he might eat him up, but plaintive and pondering. A rare moment to catch him in - snow rested in his hair, and Otabek thought of the daphne that would bloom outside his apartment come the end of winter.

There was only the sound of the snowfall after that.

~

The snow from that night had melted, then it snowed again. That snow melted too, and tonight flurries were back like ash descending from the sky. Cold bit at the tips of Otabek’s ears.

Yuri and he chose not to meet tonight, and Otabek technically wasn't on the hunt. But as usual, he kept necessary weaponry on his person, though he walked with the intent to relax. He stared out over the rooftops of buildings where, during the day, one could see mountaintops. In the dark they were inked-in giants. 

Along the road, streetlamps struggled to flicker. 

Otabek wondered what Yuri was doing, as he often did.

He did know that Yuri spent a lot of their time apart searching for a lead on Sal. Hollow wasn’t huge, but if Sal was good at hiding - which he was - then they’d have to think harder about this.

They’d canceled out the obvious first. Places near where Sal has attacked before, and they were slowly working their way through each abandoned place that could shelter someone from sunlight.

It didn’t help that Sal likely knew he was being hunted. Enough of their foes recognized them, at least.

Otabek watched his feet step onto the dusting of snow. It was so quiet out.

If Yuri passed him in the night, would he silently move on? Would he say something?

It was an odd thought, and Otabek abruptly wanted to turn back and head home. He needed to do any other activity than stroll the streets in the dark.

But with his mind dragging at a sluggish pace behind him in the streets, he hardly noticed he'd walked to the fringes of the town.

His attention was slammed back in place by a crash within the house on his right. 

He stopped, staring at it. It could be an accident or a dispute between partners. But there was also a bedroom window open, the curtains hanging still and parted. A candle light was on, glowing gently like an ember in the dark. 

It  _ could _ be nothing. But Otabek wasn’t trained in hesitance.

He checked for his stake and gun as he rounded on the front door. 

He tried the knob, and it was locked. He knocked.

A few slow seconds passed before the doorknob jiggled and someone pulled the door open. A young woman poked her head out.

"Hello?"

"Is anyone else home with you?" Otabek tried to look behind her, but she closed the door some to block his view.

"It’s late, Sir."

"This is an emergency. Someone upstairs might be in danger."

She opened the door a little more then. "My son," she said. "I’ve been down here reading by the fire. What would we-"

Otabek pushed past her. "Where?" he demanded, spinning in a circle and looking for the stairs. This was easier with Yuri by his side.

She ran ahead and opened a door that hid a set of stairs to an attic. 

“His bedroom is up there,” she explained. She took a step in, but Otabek put an arm in front of her.

“I need to go first.”

There was the temptation to storm up the stairs fast, but he knew better. He needed to gather the stealth and guard of a single hunter again. Trying his best to be quiet, he stepped in. 

The room smelled of tobacco smoke and winter. There was a lit candle on top of a dresser that came into view first.

Otabek had his gun close to him as his head emerged over the floor of the room. 

The man who had been here was long gone. As in, he was laying half on the bed, in the arms of someone Otabek couldn't quite see. 

Otabek cleared the top steps and the two came into full view. 

He could have dropped his gun. 

There was blood soaking into the blanket across the bed, dripping from the man being taken.

Hair shimmering golden in the candlelight, Yuri cradled the unconscious man against him, lips to his neck. 

But Otabek knew this was with teeth plunged in. 

Otabek couldn't react more than gasp, "Yuri."

Yuri’s eyes flashed open right on Otabek. His pupils were so wide that the green of his eyes was hardly visible, and the whites of his eyes were bloodshot a deep pink. He hissed, fangs bared and reddened.

God, there was just so, so much blood. 

Otabek’s mind went blank with the crash of the world around him; they'd never discussed what to do if this happened, both of them pretending this  _ wasn't _ happening. Or at least Yuri bad been letting Otabek pretend that, like the coward he was. 

So all he could think to do was gesture with his gun, taking a step closer to Yuri, and demand, "You need to leave."

" _ YOU need to get away from me _ ,” Yuri growled. His voice sent a frightening tremor through Otabek’s back. He clutched the man to him tighter.  _ "Get the FUCK away _ ."

"Who’s that?" the woman called from downstairs. 

Yuri’s dark eyes flashed to the sound, then back to Otabek. He snarled, getting to his feet and dragging the man with him. The man groaned deep in his throat. 

"He’s still alive-"

"Get out of here," Yuri hissed. 

Otabek could have taken a shot or chased him, but he knew he wouldn't. This was exactly what he never wanted to happen.

So he stood there and pretended he couldn’t move for the seconds it took Yuri to disappear into the night, dragging his victim with him.

By the time the woman emerged, they were gone.

"Where is Aloshya?" she cried, standing still. Otabek’s back was to her. She seemed to put the pieces together herself, because she began to cry with protests of “ _ no” _ stuck into her sobs. 

"I’m sorry, he - it was out the window by the time I got here."

~

He’d gotten the doctor for her. Consoled her, done his job. He’d seen so many families devastated in the night by hunters not coming in time, or at all, but it was always an incentive to work harder, kill more.

This time, Otabek felt the dissonance of a winter scape inside him – a place that held a breath of a memory of something, but where there was now nothing. He was carved out, his options piled on the floor but unrecognizable because he’d tangled himself so deeply into this mess. He was drowning in his own trail on bad decisions and false morals.

Otabek emerged from the kitchen with a glass of water. He didn’t know what his next move would be, or when he’d see Yuri again. He didn’t know how to process any of this. 

Who had be become? Whose side was he on?

Otabek took two steps into his room when he stopped dead. 

For the second time that night, he found himself locking eyes with an infuriated Yuri. 

Curtains whipped into the room with a gust of cold winter air.

His head was tilted down, eyes looking up through the hair fallen into his face. His demeanor reminded Otabek of that first night he’d landed his feet in his bedroom.

Unlike earlier, he no longer looked quite the animal he had, but he swayed in that way he did when on the hunt. Hands were extended by his sides, fingers flexing. 

Otabek gripped the glass tight and glanced his gun resting on the dresser. 

Yuri cleared the room in a second, balling a fist of Otabek’s shirt into his hand and pushing him into the far wall. The glass shattered against the floorboards.

Otabek was too stunned to fight. His guard was down with Yuri, anyway. 

“Don’t you  _ ever interrupt  _ me during that  _ again _ .”

Yuri glared him up and down; with their nearness, that meant he traded stares along Otabek’s neck and jawline and eyes, like he was remembering just how good he would taste. 

Otabek tried not to think about how his heart twisted in strange ways when he caught his reflection in the eyes of Yuri’s hungry gaze. 

“You, you-“ Otabek stammered, scrambling to gather his frustrations from before. 

Then he put a hand on Yuri’s chest and shoved. Surprisingly, he let go of Otabek’s shirt and stumbled back. 

“They’re innocent people,” Otabek said. “People with families. Can you not at least-“

“NO.” Yuri grabbed his shoulders and shoved Otabek back into the wall again. He gripped hard as he spoke. “You do not get to ask me to not be what I am. You  _ don’t.” _

Otabek shook his head. It was a struggle to think against Yuri’s aggression, his hands on him threateningly tight. “Get off me,” he managed, striking away Yuri’s arms. 

“You want that?” Yuri stepped further into his space, not touching but his body closer than before. His head tilted sideways as if he might lean in for that deadly bite, but he glared up. “Do not forget that you may be a trained hunter. But in nature,  _ I _ am the hunter. Don’t you  _ ever _ forget that.”

Otabek felt like minutes passed before his thoughts resurfaced. He blinked, aware again; his time had been lost to Yuri’s eyes and gaze, something he hadn’t used on Otabek in a long while. But now Yuri was doing all he could to remind him of what he was…

Why didn’t he feel more scared then?

He realized his hands were on Yuri’s shoulders, touching him like before when this happened. His skin was warm. 

“You get warmer when you eat,” he mumbled, still dazed. He didn’t let go.

Yuri wasn’t going to hurt him; he wanted Otabek to be afraid of him to lock a distance between them. But - Otabek looked at Yuri’s mouth that had been on someone barely hours ago. His stomach twisted in a knot. Sometimes he could almost believe he and Yuri had formed some sort of companionship. Walking under stars or through snowflakes in the most vulnerable hours of the day, he felt they were so similar.

There wasn’t Yuri who was also a vampire, there was just Yuri. If Yuri were human, Otabek suspected he’d still be angry, flustered, and always on the precipice of a fight. Otabek didn’t identify what made Yuri dangerous as vampire - it just seemed…  _ him _ ?

He understood that wasn’t the point: it was that Yuri didn’t feel he had control of himself, but Otabek trusted him. He didn’t realize until now how comfortable he’d become with Yuri. Not just in a fight, but every other moment.

He didn’t know what to make of any of that.

Yuri’s glare fell away as he stepped back abruptly, slipping from under Otabek’s hands. He turned away, eyes still dark but without the pierce of his rage. 

“You’re an idiot, Otabek.”

Maybe that was true. Otabek still had a mission to this town. He tried to summon the angers of injustice toward humanity he once felt, to try to not fall into this strange chasm opening up before him.

“Just… these people haven’t done anything wrong. I know we don’t talk about it, but I wonder if after everything, how you can spend time with me and not begin to sympathize?”

Yuri spun back on Otabek with a new fire in his eyes. His teeth grit together as he shook his head. “An idiot,” he reiterated. It sounded like he was holding more words back. For some reason, this was infuriating.

“Well?” Otabek stepped forward, but Yuri dropped to the floor. Otabek froze before remembering Yuri’s fighting technique as his feet tripped out from under him. 

His back hit the floor, knocking the breath out of him. Yuri crouched over him and grabbed the collar of his jacket with both hands to drag him until their faces were inches apart. Hearting pounding and lungs squeezed out, Otabek wasn’t able to voice a word as Yuri’s eyes struck knives into him.

“You’re crossing a lot of lines tonight,” he said low, voice eerily level. “ _ Sympathy _ .” He repeated the word like it’d been a joke. “Do you remember that shopkeeper? He was so sad about that woman’s death because she takes his money to let him see the children alone. And tonight, that man told me about the girlfriend he hits as I seduced him.

“I hear them, Otabek. People screaming. And crying. And dying at their each other’s hands, their own hands even. You all kill each other with slow deaths, through torture and suffering and lies. I kill with several moments of what they think is euphoria, and then it’s not really over, is it?”

His fists curled tighter around Otabek’s jacket. “We are all the same monster. If you can’t see that, then fuck you.”

He shoved Otabek back and he hit the floor in a fit of coughs. Yuri stood over him another moment, his glare having the last words as he stepped back toward the window. 

When Otabek sat up, it was only him and the cold blowing past the curtains.  

His heart still hammered, though he felt cold beyond the air in the room. The heat from the past few minutes flowing out into the dark.

And Yuri’s words hovered in the air: they echoed in the flaps of the curtains, were highlighted by the shadows across his walls, and their meanings bit with the cold.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon)   
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> 
> please don't forget to kudo if you've enjoyed this thus far, and comments are like, woah, amazing!!~
> 
> thanks everyone!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mind the tags! <3 be well, all of you!

At least a small town always had a bar open. 

Otabek took a drink, and his whiskey went down hot and fast, making some part of him feel alive deep inside. He’d sat there leaning against his bed with the cold filling his entire apartment before he decided he couldn’t stand it anymore, and he needed to be anywhere except where Yuri had angrily had his hands on him.

After several more swallows, he felt he could finally melt out the last drop of ice from his bones. 

There were only three other people here, and they all sat apart. The others hung their heads and didn’t speak. The room was overcast with shade and regret. 

Otabek thought about what Yuri had said and wondered what these people had done.

He didn’t belong here self-pitying, but he couldn’t go anywhere else.

The cold rushed in a brief moment as the doors opened, and two people entered. Otabek wouldn’t have even noticed who they were except he heard a familiar laugh.

The whiskey turned over in his stomach.

Victor and Yuuri stumbled in, arms linked. They were dressed nice save for their clothes being slightly disheveled, likely from tugging on each other as they did now.

Both saw Otabek at the same time. Yuuri burst out in a laugh and Victor shushed him through a wild grin. 

They were drunk.

Two drunk husbands. 

Otabek took another drink. 

“Otabek!” Yuuri said; a smile spread wide across his face and his hands were clasped together as he and Victor walked over. “You’re here?”

“I am,” Otabek said, glancing past them to the doors. How could he get out of this?

Of course they took their seats at the bar next to him, Yuuri dragging his chair closer to Victor’s. 

“It’s our anniversary,” Yuuri leaned in between Victor and the table to explain. 

The bartender interrupted by getting Victor and Yuuri’s order. Drinks they both clearly didn’t need. 

Otabek smiled and found himself to mean it. Yuuri and Victor were iconic as a couple in both hunting and romance. “Congratulations,” he said. 

“We went to other places tonight,” Victor started to explain. “But just sort of...” he glanced at Yuuri, who didn’t seem to be listening, but rather gazing lovingly at his husband talk. His cheeks were very pink.

He blinked, looking between Victor and Otabek as they waited. “Wait, what?”

“... just sort of ended up here, I guess.” Victor finished and laughed. 

Otabek spun his glass in slow circles on the table. The crystal caught fragments of color in the light. 

So maybe Yuri was right. They were all monsters. But Otabek had a pretty strong feeling that Victor and Yuuri were two people that were always good.

Otabek had apprenticed under Yuuri, who’d apprenticed under Victor… one would think that meant Otabek should’ve turned out a little better.

“I never learned how you two met,” Otabek realized aloud. 

“Really?” Yuri gasped. “But it’s such a good story!”

“The best, indeed,” Victor agreed.

“Well I’d like to know,” Otabek said, while also idly welcoming the distraction from his own wallows.

Yuuri scooted forward in his chair, grasping Victor’s hand in his lap.

He began, "So I messed up really badly on the preliminary physical exams back before I was a hunter."

Otabek raised an eyebrow at this already-surprising information.

Before someone was taken on as an apprentice by a hunter, they had to pass a series of physical tests to see if their stamina and strength could handle the training. Yuuri was such a fluid and strong hunter, and having been the one Otabek apprenticed under, Otabek supposed he'd never imagined a time when Yuuri was below average.

"It was nerves," Yuuri grinned fondly at the memory. "I was too focused on being watched. So I was told to keep training and come back next year. This was right before Summer Fest."

Otabek nodded through another drink. He'd definitely been at Summer Fest whatever year that was - as a kid, of course, but no one missed Summer Fest. On the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, Hollow and their neighboring city, Sellow, got together for a celebration of another year alive and well.

That meant another year alive specifically against vampires, and protection items were sold to citizens and home cleansing practices were taught among more cheerful celebrating.

He took another drink against the gnawing at his chest at the mention of vampires.  

"So Victor was the hunter I would have apprenticed under. Instead, a hunter who has now moved to Sellow, Phichit, was selected."

Victor was grinning as if very aware of the next part in this story. Otabek waited, oddly drawn into Yuuri's words. Which was probably because of the whiskey, but it felt good to talk to these two.

Yuuri waved his hands before him. "I was devastated because I LOVED Victor. Not many people actually pay attention to the hunters in town beyond being aware there's someone protecting them, but..." Yuuri giggled before continuing. "I was  _ aware  _ of Victor."

The two gazed at each other then, memories passing intimately between them, and Otabek had not drunk enough to sit through that comfortably.

"So what happened?" he prompted.

It looked like Yuuri almost forgot he was even there. "Oh, I'm - it's so embarrassing really." He covered his eyes and leaned on the counter.

"It's not," Victor chided with a hand on his shoulder.

But Yuuri shook his head. "Victor, you take over."

“Well all right.” Victor smirked as he talked. “So Yuuri got really drunk at the festival. I don’t know who he was with originally, but I saw him stumbling around alone and recognized him from the tests. I asked if he was okay, and well - he sort of latched onto me and dragged me to the center of the festival, where there was dancing. I wasn’t sure he even knew who I was until he called me by my name.”

“You just went with him?”

Victor shrugged. “Well of course.”

“I don’t remember any of this,” Yuuri clarified with a still-hidden face. The pink in his cheeks had darkened.

“I tried to discourage him from dancing because I didn’t think he could in his state, but he proved me wrong.”

Otabek actually laughed at that. “ _ Really _ ?”

Victor nodded and held up a finger. “Oh yes, definitely. It made my night, but other's nights, too. He roused one boy in particular from pouting on the side to dancing. And at the end of it all, Yuuri grabbed me, looked me straight in the eyes, and begged me to be his trainer.”

“You... said yes, I suppose?”

"How could I not? I was pretty sure I was in love."

"Victor!"

Victor wrapped an arm around his husband and pulled him back from blushing into the countertop. "I wasn't wrong."

"How did you bypass our rules then?" Otabek asked, genuinely curious about that. Minako wasn't known for her leniency.

"I asked," Victor answered simply.

"That's all?"

Yuuri swatted at Victor. "No, Victor asked and Minako said no, and Victor didn't tell me that and went ahead and trained me anyway! I was mortified when we ran into her one night."

"Act first, apologize later." Victor shrugged.

"That's a sweet story," Otabek said. "It's kind of typical you two had a beginning like that."

Yuuri and Victor intertwined hands further. If two hands could become more locked together, Otabek supposed these two would find the way.

“So do you have anybody you’re seeing and keeping secret from us, Otabek? You never talk about your personal life.” Yuuri let Victor wrap an arm around him and tug him into his side.

They both turned in their seats a little as if expecting Otabek to go into his own romance novel. 

Otabek’s face flushed, a reaction definitely due to the alcohol. He also knew that Yuuri would only ever ask him a question like that drunk. 

“I - I don’t. No, you know I prefer to focus on my work.” Otabek was thankful the two were distracted enough to not question him being at a bar alone during the night. 

“Mmm. Yeah, that’s you.” Yuuri leaned a head on Victor’s shoulder. “Well if there’s ever someone to care about, put them first, okay? Before everything else.  _ Even  _ our work.” Yuuri’s eyes were wide and way too dramatic. 

“ _ Yuuri _ ,” Victor whispered as if this was a secret he shouldn’t have told. As if it were a secret these two weren’t each other’s world before anything else.

Yeah, Otabek was pretty sure these two weren’t monsters.

~

Encouraged to make himself less scarce, Otabek spent the late afternoon hours of the next day at the station reporting vampire kills. The primary reason he'd neglected this, of course, was that it required partial forgery and skewing of details. Alone he couldn't possibly be succeeding in as many kills and crossing as much ground as he and Yuri were together.

He had to pick and choose the kills to report. He left the vampires that they cornered in alleys and abandoned buildings to the dust, and wrote about those they’d found in homes or places where someone was witness to the body's removal.

The paperwork Minako had them fill out asked for lengthy details about not only the time and place of a hunt, but even trivialities like the weather.

This would be simple if Otabek went in everyday to handle this.

He stayed on the couch to write, leaning against the armrest with his knees up as surface to place the pack of papers against. His shoes were left abandoned on the floor.

When Minako saw him set up there, she'd nodded approvingly, but said few words as she drifted in and out throughout the day. Victor, with JJ in tow, stopped in once.

Noise from the streets dented the quietness of the building only slightly, and Otabek found that time fell away fast. Plus he felt well to be about in the daytime hours.

By the time he was done writing, his hand ached and his mind was worn - the latter pain due to the amount of lies he weaved into partial truths the past couple hours.

This chore was beneficial for temporarily forgetting Yuri since it required him to pretend he wasn't there in his memories, fighting alongside him.

With ease, with stealth, with grace Otabek couldn't match but fall into seamlessly and spin into something different.

He found he didn’t actually want the stories of fighting alone in the night that were written before him.

It felt wrong, but not for the reasons he expected. He wasn't perturbed to be lying to his peers, but to not owning the accomplishments of Yuri and himself. They’d done a lot together and it was a shame no one would ever know except each other.

Otabek didn't know when he would see Yuri again, whether tonight or the next, but there were a few things he needed to figure out before then.

The peace that came with the day sunk lower in his stomach as the sun bowed to the approach of evening. He moved from the couch, body stiff from the long stillness, and he put on his shoes and grabbed his coat. He left the forms on Minako's desk in a neat pile and hoped they'd sate her.

With no one else inside, he locked the station as he left.

He took a turn down the streets away from his home. The person he was seeing should be in their office despite the darkening hour, as they dealt with creatures of the night too.

People were withdrawing indoors. Otabek was nearing that plane where he seemed on a separate reality from everyone else. He wanted to fight it but he didn’t know how, so he basked in the dissonance helplessly.

Yuri would be waking up in an hour. Where would he go tonight?

The scene from the night before flashed across his memory again: that person in Yuri’s arms, Yuri wild and hungry and doing all he could do to survive, threatening Otabek to get away from him.

Yuri slamming him into the wall begging Otabek to be careful.

He clenched his fists, nails digging into palms.

He didn’t know how to be fucking careful, it seemed.

Maybe he couldn’t give Yuri that, but he had something else he wanted.

The doctor didn’t take long to answer Otabek’s knock.

"Did something happen?" he asked the moment he saw Otabek was the one standing there. He leaned from entryway to scan the evening.

"Everything is fine, this isn’t urgent," Otabek calmed him. Dr. Giacometti drew back.

“Ah, well. What can I do for you?”

“May I ask you some questions?”

“Of course. Come inside.”

~

A pit in his stomach had opened that one night, and it cracked open more the longer he didn’t hear from Yuri. 

He knew Yuri would be back. 

But his life was on pause: he couldn’t commit to the station with a good conscience yet, but Yuri had all their leads on vampire locations in the town. 

Otabek also feared another encounter with Yuri if he went hunting on his own. 

Anticipation twisted into nerves; the pit widened into a cavern. 

What  _ IF _ Yuri decided to go back on their deal? He would at least give Otabek a sign, surely.

The few nights he’d spent on edge he couldn’t get to sleep during, no matter how much he forced himself to stay awake during the day. 

Yuri’s words rolled through his head. Fierce eyes burned behind his eyelids, and the places Yuri had touched and grabbed Otabek were ghosts that clung to his skin.

Otabek repeated what Dr. Giacometti told him over and over to himself to not forget the facts.

He would’ve written it all down, except that would make this all too real.

Otabek thought he was dreaming when he heard a small knocking outside his bedroom window. The sun went down hours ago, and he only knew he couldn’t actually be dreaming because his sleep had been mere glimpses of unconsciousness.   

He wanted to be cautious, but his impatience drowned that fast. With a single motion, he tossed apart his curtains.

His heart seemed to stutter when he saw it was Yuri who stared back at him, eyes still and pensive. Otabek only realized then that Yuri hadn’t known how he would handle their fight. For all Yuri knew, Otabek was holing up in here and ready to blast him into oblivion like the rest of their foes, deciding he was just like them all after what he’d seen. 

That made the wait feel justified, but also made Otabek eager to tell Yuri he felt quite the opposite about what happened. Or rather, show him.

He shoved open the window so hard the pane shuddered. “Yuri,” he breathed. His hand twitched as he almost reached out to help Yuri in, but Yuri swung in gracefully, as he always did. 

“Are you okay?” Yuri stood with his back to the window. His eyes scanned Otabek, possibly looking for a sign of a fight. 

He would find none, but an answer to his question was hard to come by. 

In some ways, Otabek felt surer of the paths he’d taken than ever before. But in a whole other way, he felt absolutely insane. 

Time spilled away like sand in an hourglass between them. Staring at Yuri across this space and time reminded Otabek of just how trapped he was in that original web Yuri spun. He was so ensnared by him, tangled in his memories of Yuri’s glare and the way his lips curled back to curse at him, the hair that followed his movements like highlights to every action he made. And Otabek’s mind was always on the way Yuri gauged him, his body coming close but remaining purposefully separate as Yuri tasted him without touch. 

So was he okay?

Probably not. 

Otabek withdrew a knife from his pocket and stared down at it in his palm. 

“What is that for?” Yuri asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. 

“How often do you need to eat?”

“You’re asking about that? What’s wrong with you?”

Otabek tossed the knife on his bed. Yuri’s confusion was a lie; it was weird, with his mind so made up, he could see the edges to Yuri’s words and how they trembled. Still, they had to get there in words. 

“Can you just answer?”

He took a match from the pack on his night stand and lit a candle there. Yuri’s eyes followed him as he moved to turn off the main light fixture. 

“It... depends. Sometimes once a month. It can be more.”

Otabek figured a vampire’s metabolism was something wholly other than could be studied. He hummed a little in thought, eyes on the small towel he had folded on the bedside table. 

“What are you doing?” Yuri asked more firmly when Otabek slipped his jacket off and let it fall to the floor. 

“Will you try something with me?” His words came out steady, but his heart was thunder in his body. His face felt hot too, for that matter.

For a moment he doubted this. Was he really just going to grab Yuri’s hand and drag him into his plan? Not even discuss what happened?

He took a deep, steadying breath.

They’d never  _ talked _ about things. Why start now?

“Otabek, I don’t think you-“ 

“I do.” Otabek cast him a dark look from the corner of his eye. Yuri seemed to press further against the window, as if he might flee any second. Perhaps he was that frightened of just...  _ agreeing _ . 

Otabek sat on his bed and pulled up his legs to cross them. “I trust you.”

That triggered something in Yuri. A sound almost like a whimper came from his throat, and Otabek caught the way his eyes, though on him, were distant. Was he imagining taking what was being offered already?

Otabek felt that thought low in his abdomen. He took another breath.

He didn’t want Yuri to stand there and wait. This wasn’t exactly easy for Otabek despite being decided - he wanted Yuri to finally,  _ finally  _ come to him. To stop resisting so much. Stop avoiding him like Otabek will crumble under his touch. 

Yuri’s form seemed held up by his grip on the windowsill. Cold air leaked in. 

“You could shut that,” Otabek tried. 

Yuri stared at the window a moment, face open and raw. 

And then he shut it.

Without word, he let his coat slip from his shoulders and land beside Otabek’s. 

Otabek moved the knife beside him. “Come here.” He held out a hand. 

Yuri took it, still watching with a tentativeness that made him appear so delicate when they both knew he had the real control in the situation. 

Yuri sat on the bed across from Otabek, mouth parted slightly and watching, waiting for Otabek’s next actions - and Otabek realized perhaps Yuri  _ didn’t _ feel like he had control. Or even odder, maybe Yuri respected that this was on Otabek’s terms.

His heartbeat was a heavy banter across his entire body.

Otabek pulled his own shirt off as Yuri watched on, then took Yuri’s hand and led him to him; Yuri sat into the space between Otabek’s crossed legs, and for a moment, Otabek wished they could be normal.

That the world could be normal, without killers and bleeders. That Yuri was someone here to make the nights less lonely – someone that could stay. It felt like he’d been waiting forever to feel Yuri’s hair fall against his bare skin.

For a selfish moment, Otabek imagined Yuri filling that space.

He leaned Yuri’s head against his right shoulder and inhaled deep - Yuri smelled of wood fire - and Otabek checked in on how he felt.

He hadn’t changed his mind. That was good.

Otabek took the knife with his left hand and brought his right arm in front of Yuri. “I’ll say... I’ll tell you when it’s enough. I don’t think it’ll be long, unfortunately. I’ll be counting seconds. I can’t be everything you need. But maybe it’ll help.”

Yuri pulled away enough to twist around and look at him. There was so much hunger in the way he stared, so much patient but excruciating want. Otabek felt those emotions mirrored in him, dipping down far into his gut. 

“Your’s will do lots,” Yuri affirmed. “And Otabek, I want you to know I didn’t want this. Not like this. I mean... I wasn’t trying for this.”

Yuri stared with eyes that also plead, though Otabek wasn’t sure for what now. 

_ We’re all the same monster.  _

“Yes, you were,” he said, and cut the knife across his upper forearm. 

Maybe Yuri would have had a response, but his eyes squeezed shut with a wince and a hiss. He turned around, body melting against Otabek and hands grasping his arm. 

Otabek didn’t want to look at the cut, though he felt a trickle of blood begin to drip down. He clamped his teeth as Yuri’s tongue was on his arm, tracing along its path. He felt hot, and he let his head hit back against the wall as Yuri’s lips wrapped around the wound and sucked. 

Otabek distantly felt something low rumble in Yuri, but it was hard to catch beyond the thrashing of blood in his ears. 

Yuri managed to handle Otabek’s arm carefully, lifting it some. Otabek kept his other arm wrapped tight around Yuri’s torso. He tried to focus on counting the passing seconds. It was an effort not to bite through his lower lip again. 

The muscles in Yuri’s back shifted with each swallow. Otabek used the movements to keep time, but his mind was fogging. He found himself letting his eyes fall down to Yuri, and his chest nearly burst. There was something so normal about the look of them like this, but Otabek had spent years training to believe this was vile. That Yuri was vile. 

And suddenly he was watching the line of Yuri’s throat bob with each swallow, and he was staring at Yuri’s lips pressed firmly against him, no teeth bared to hurt him but taking what Otabek could give that he needed all the same. And he wondered if maybe this was what he was here for - for this strange, intimate partnering of the light and the dark. 

He lost track of time briefly. Only when he felt light-headed did he really snap to. 

Not much time had passed at all, yet it felt like years shifted between them.

“I think that’s all I can do,” Otabek said, voice heavy. It was odd to miss Yuri’s mouth as soon as it was gone. 

Otabek reached for the towel, but Yuri grabbed it from him and placed it right over the wound, tying it, too. Otabek smiled at the favor, head back against the wall. His body felt so alive, yet his head was so heavy. He hoped they hadn’t gone too far. 

He should get water, or juice, or whatever else Dr. Giacometti recommended for blood loss victims. But he didn’t want to move ever again.

In his arms Yuri took deep and heavy breaths as if he could be out of breath. He still held onto Otabek’s arm.

“So what’s the verdict?” Otabek tried to joke despite how low and tired his voice was. “Do I taste good?”

Yuri turned in his arms and Otabek looked down at him.

Dark traces of his blood remained on Yuri’s lower lip, and Otabek swallowed against the pleasure he got from the sight. Knowing that it was his, and that Yuri had taken it from him.

Yuri’s expression was so vulnerable and his eyes, the whites only a little tinged pink, nearly trembled. Otabek wanted to fold into the vulnerability of both of them and never leave.

There was a lot he wanted. 

“I-“ he tried, but no words followed.

Yuri knew, though, and he pressed warming hands to Otabek’s chest and brought his lips to his.

Otabek thought he’d be surprised, but he was only relieved. 

Yuri kissed him with a heavy mouth and Otabek tasted his own blood. 

A twisted feeling rolled through his body, a sensation that the rawness of Yuri always triggered in him. Or merely stirred in him, like the feelings were always there, and he only began to understand them in Yuri’s presence. 

In his chest he could feel the memory of Yuri grabbing him by the collar and shoving him into the wall. He could feel him leaning close to threaten him, breath on his neck. Kneeling over him on the floor to whisper beautiful but deadly words that would change him forever. He called back to the hundred times he’d caught a glimpse of that base hunger flash in Yuri’s eyes.

The secrets of how he desired Yuri flooded his head after being chained up for so long.

He leaned further into Yuri. The deeper he kissed him, the more that desire shot through him; he wanted Yuri’s mouth only on him. On his body, his mouth, his throat - he wanted Yuri to threaten him with bloodlust nightly. 

Yuri gasped softly against his mouth as Otabek’s hand curled into his hair.

_ Softly _ . How could someone so deadly and strong be so graceful? It tore him apart.

His blood was salty and Yuuri’s mouth was sweet. 

_ More  _ was the only word he knew. 

Darkness traced past them beyond the candlelight, concealing them from the world for just a little while.  

Until Yuri pulled away. 

Otabek didn’t know how, for if  _ he _ felt overtaken by desire, then how could Yuri resist? Unless Yuri didn’t want him that way.

The thought itself was sobering enough. Otabek re-focused his eyes and saw Yuri’s own, heavy and dilated and laden with need, blood still tingeing his lips.  

And Otabek knew Yuri wanted him too, he’d always wanted him. Badly, Yuri had wanted to drain him since the day they’d met. That thrill curled in Otabek’s stomach again, finding some way to cut deeper. 

“You want me,” Otabek breathed. 

Yuri stared hard at him, nodding thinly. Otabek watched his throat swallow and wondered if he was swallowing the final dredges of his taste to hold himself back. 

Otabek squeezed Yuri’s arm. “I want you.”

“I... can’t.”

“Why?”

“It’s too much.”

Fuck. Otabek thought he’d explode from those words. He ran fingers through Yuri’s hair again. He’d wanted to do that for so long. It was soft, like he imagined. 

“You didn’t answer me,” he said. “Did I taste good?”

Yuri’s shoulders slumped at the memory. “I’ll never stop thinking about it. I’ll be hungry for the rest of my life, for you.”

“We can do this again. When I can.”

Yuri didn’t seem surprised. Perhaps he hoped for those words. “Why are you doing this?”

Otabek let the strands of Yuri’s hair fall through his fingers.

“I guess I could tell you it’s because I think you should kill less people, and this is how I keep lying to myself that I’m some definition of good.

“I could say I’m jealous when I think of others who get to know this part of you.

“Those all might be a little true, or really true. But more than anything, I think you’re just not the only one who is hungry.”

Yuri gazed at him. Otabek continued with one more request, “If you can, can I kiss you one more time?”

Yuri nodded, and Otabek used his left hand to lift Yuri’s chin, taking his lips and for one last time catching this side of Yuri; he hugged to every detail of Yuri’s mouth, his hair under his fingers, and Yuri’s hands carefully clutching his shoulders. He wrapped it all up to store in his memory. 

Yuri was the first to pull away again. Of course, because Otabek would continue to lose himself in Yuri as deep as he would let him go, until he was drowning. Maybe he already drowned. 

“You make me feel... alive,” Yuri confessed. 

Otabek smiled and let his head rest back against the wall. He hoped he’d remember Yuri saying that later. 

He felt Yuri already knew what Otabek would say, if he answered him:

_ You make me feel dead. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon/) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> you all are just fabulous. <3 also i hope these frequent chapters are fun XD


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fast & relevant fact: blood plasma is replaced in about 24 hours, but red blood cells can take more than a month to be replenished. ┐(￣∀￣)┌

Otabek assessed himself the moment he woke up.

Deep in some paranoid part of his mind he imagined he'd wake up turned. But he was fine.

He unwound the cloth from his arm, and there was a slowly scabbing cut across it, a darkening bruise edging around it. He needed to clean it; he’d meant to immediately. He’d meant to do a lot of things to care for himself immediately.

He swallowed hard as he let himself remember the night in full, and he laid there, a sigh heavy in his chest. It took actual effort to take the breath he needed for it.

Yuri left hours before. The window was shut, but the curtains remained parted.

They hadn't traded many words between them after what they'd done. Otabek expected that Yuri would show up tonight for a hunt and that things would return to normal.

At least for a while, until Yuri crawled back to him when enough time passed. Or when Otabek crawled back, which was equally - if not more - possible.

Based on the facts Dr. Giacometti gave Otabek, he’d need to wait several weeks to be safe.

In the meantime he would avoid the thoughts of Yuri finding others to prevent that vain jealousy from darkening his thoughts.

He stared at his ceiling and felt the weight of it push back onto his chest. His heart beat through him as a heavy burden for it now beat in the shadows. He'd spent so long walking along a line at dusk and dawn, gripping the edges of sunbeams. But he'd willingly fallen into the night.

The night with its shifting dark and streaks of silver and cold air; and his heart hammered there, trying to fill warmth where there was none.

He closed his eyes and imagined his confrontation with Sal long ago. The vampire was tall and large; he came from another town, not Sellow - no one knew where. And no one knew why he chose Hollow to continually terrorize for years now.

There were still people that could be saved. Deaths that could be avenged.

He slipped from the bed; the room still held a chill from the open window the previous night. It caused a shiver in Otabek that felt good, reminding him of his flesh and bone existence.

~

Despite the calming breaths he took before exiting the building, Otabek’s heart tripped over itself when he saw Yuri leaning against the brick exterior of the apartment outside. He caught him for half a second with his head down, staring with furrowed brows at the garden beds.

Then he looked up to Otabek and whatever he was contemplating faded, and the corner of his mouth curved up in a smirk. "Hey. I think I know where a good one is tonight.”

Otabek didn't want to search deep in Yuri’s expression for a sign of the night before, so he brought up eyes to the sky where the clouds were building strong. There wouldn’t be much light for him tonight. He checked his jacket for several flares.

"What’s the definition of a good one?"

“One that’s really been fucking messing things up around town. I passed him eating a recently-turned vampire last night after I left.”

Yuri sounded so normal to say that. _After I left._

But neither met each other’s eyes.

~

He felt the faintness coming on in the middle of the fight.

First it was his heart pounding a little harder than usual, like he was suddenly out of shape. The darkness already flickered around the flare, and so he barely took the shadows inking closer to him as the warning sign it was.

He bit down on his lip and focused as Yuri pounced from between him and their target so Otabek could bring the stake down.

Which he managed, and his head seemed to clear a little, but this was fucking dangerous. What if he hadn’t managed that? Yuri wouldn’t be expecting Otabek to just drop out of the fight... He needed to be more careful...

For the morbid seconds of its death, Otabek thought maybe he regained his strength, and that the resulting weakness of the night before was past. With the fight was over he would be fine, and he’d definitely be better tomorrow.

He let the stake go and raised up, and the shadows rushed him.

The most prominent thought in his head was to not make this seem a bigger deal than it was. The last thing he wanted was this very obvious reminder of the night before. And to make it seem like it wasn’t something that he couldn’t handle.

Still, he needed support, and reached out until he found a wall.

He leaned hard against it, digging his shoulder in sharply to let the pain jar through him and keep him grounded.

“Otabek?”

He opened eyes he hadn’t known were shut.

Yuri was close to him, hands outstretched but not touching. Just there, hesitating between them. His eyes were wide and passing over Otabek, confused and... concerned. It was kind of funny.

Otabek huffed awkward laughter through gritted teeth and rolled himself so that his back was against the wall. Yuri shifted with him, moving as if he was his reflection.

What was he gonna do, catch him if he fell?

Something twisted in the strained pound of his heart in his chest as he understood that was exactly what Yuri was intending.

“I’m fine, I just overdid it at the end there.”

Yuri’s hands dropped. He scowled to the shadows at the edge of the room and scoffed.

“You mean _we_ overdid it.”

Otabek raised his eyes to the ceiling in very blatant unresponsiveness, and Yuri recoiled from his own words, stepping back suddenly, eyes darting to his feet like he could get away from the words he threw between them.

Otabek wanted to get away from them, too.

Instead he just continued to not say anything. He felt better anyway, his heart rate slowing, and the tilt of his head didn’t make blackness swarm.

Yuri only looked concerned again the first step Otabek took from the wall. But, yes - Otabek clenched a fist at his side, then relaxed it. He was fine.

Yuri sensed this too, and his expression dropped back into slightly-irritated neutral.

Otabek glanced at the vampire on the ground, sprawled out as a dead witness to their mess.

“I’ll just,”  Otabek started slowly, “you know, stay out until morning to have the town remove this with me.”

This is what they did sometimes, so that Otabek wasn’t always mysteriously doing everything on his own in the eyes of the town. He’d feign that he needed help in the morning to remove the body and repair any damage done.

The people of Hollow liked to feel involved.

He didn’t like it though, for all the attention it attracted to him.

“Are you sure?” Yuri asked, then shook his head, retracting the question. “I mean yeah, of course. Like usual.”

“Yep.”

_Yep_.

~

Two weeks gone let winter rear its ugliest form. It snowed grey, and houses struggled to keep warm. Yuri mocked Otabek for the thicker clothes as he still donned the same jacket.

They’d resumed their almost nightly missions, walking the streets with shoulders almost touching, busting into buildings and homes. Sometimes leads were false or outdated, and there was nothing to find. Sometimes Yuri caught the scent of something in the thin wintry air and their night became a success. It was never Sal though.

Still - Otabek unloaded so much silver, stabbed through flesh with so many stakes, and Yuri tortured and twisted and wore down every vampire unlucky enough to be on the wrong side.

Otabek sometimes wondered if there were many vampires that Yuri let pass through the night because they weren’t Sal’s and not actively attacking someone. Because then they were like Yuri.

He supposed at least. Yuri was still far too different than one Otabek had ever met, but he had no explanation for why.

Townspeople still died, and every vampire taken down by Otabek in the eyes of the town was greatly celebrated. He was modest in the face of this praise, often trying to squirm free of crowds minutes after they formed.

He tried to report his missions to the station, make small talk with the other hunters, and be home with enough time to eat and sleep until sundown.

The routine was smooth.

Sometimes he felt normal again, when Yuuri was making a joke about how efficient he’d become and Minako was giving him a tight-lipped smile. Victor would pat him on the back and remind him to take care of himself, and JJ would quietly brood like a dog waiting for his owner to return.

But as each day passed, the silence between he and Yuri swelled, or it was replaced by painful small talk, which was a bunch of overly-complacent stuff about where Sal could be and what they planned to do that night.

Yuri clouded the corners of Otabek’s vision constantly. Yuri never kept his eyes on Otabek long. When he did, Otabek caught the hunger there, and it carved out a cavern in his own stomach.

The walls they built were paper thin and crumpling fast under the weight of unspoken words.

_Real_ words _._

Otabek stepped back from the vampire staked against the floor. Smoke curled from its busted chest, the remaining glow of the stake petering out.

This one had been light on its feet, making Yuri’s attacks from below ineffective. Otabek turned to comment on that to Yuri, but something in his expression made him hold his words back.

"Since this is just an old building and it’s still early, do you just want to get rid of him together and save you the trouble of waiting around?"

Otabek felt like he shouldn’t agree, but if past events had anything to say, this only meant he was definitely going to.

"That would save me a lot of strife in the morning."

~

Yuri was quiet through taking the body to the edge of town to burn, and Otabek bit back the questions he wanted to ask. Being quiet was always safer.

He understood somewhat as Yuri didn't leave Otabek’s side once they neared the center of town. There hadn’t been enough time yet for him to… but there were other things.

Otabek held the door open into his apartment building; Yuri stared almost plaintively at the ground, all footsteps and no words, and came through the entryway. This was the first time Yuri would enter his place through its actual entrance.

Otabek also held the door to his apartment open. When Yuri stepped inside, he stopped, staring around in the dark.

This was also the first time Yuri was seeing a part of Otabek’s apartment other than his bedroom. It was strange to have him here, peaking in on Otabek’s extremely human life.

He kicked his boots off and walked back to his room, heartbeat picking up steed now.

Yuri trailed after.

It was killing Otabek to be so quiet - yet he still found himself unable to communicate anything.

It didn’t have to be this complicated, did it? Yet it was. There were so many things that went unsaid between them.

Yuri followed Otabek into his bedroom. As Otabek shut the door, he definitely didn’t predict what happened next.

His back hit his door hard as Yuri pressed flush against him, hands on the wall on either side of him. His head was on his chest, listening to the thrush of Otabek’s blood pound from his heart.

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” he whispered. His words were strained.

Oh. _This was_...

It was so easy to let the threads of resistance begin their rapid unravel.

Otabek’s hands slipped under his coat and into the shreds of his shirt. He held his waist and resisted the urge to dig his nails in and drag Yuri into him more.

He could have said he couldn’t stop thinking about it either, but he wanted to hear Yuri say it. He wanted to hear him say it every day. “About what?”

Yuri’s fingers curled, fingernails scratching against the wood of the door. His head rose and fell gently with Otabek’s chest. “How good you fucking taste. I’m going insane. I’m going to kill you.”

Otabek nearly lost himself to those words. And to Yuri, pressing against him, hunger practically radiating. Otabek wanted to do so many things at once. He closed his eyes briefly and those desires spun out like poems stitched behind his eyelids.

_God_. So many things.

His heartbeat was tumultuous, heavy and pounding; Otabek could feel it in his throat, knew Yuri could feel it in his throat too. And he knew Yuri could feel his blood thrumming, a lull into the dark to just...

“Do you want that?” Otabek asked.

Yuri turned his head to stare into Otabek’s eyes. His hair fell around the sides of his head, and both his eyes were uncovered: they wavered between predatory and dazed, a back and forth struggle.

“More than anything,” he answered.

There was pause.

Here in the mostly dark, at least the quiet wasn’t oppressive, because silence in shadows felt like whispers.

Finally, Yuri stepped away. Coldness spilled into the space formed between them.

"Why did you want to come here tonight?" Otabek asked.

Yuri let the gentleness fall from his demeanor, letting one of his grins cross his face. It was weaker though. He was weak.

Yuri ran a hand through his hair. With a shrug, he said, "You know, reminding you to feel afraid of me and all."

He didn’t sound convincing.

He didn’t sound like he was trying to be convincing, either.

He’d still said it, though, and that wasn't going to cut it as an answer for Otabek. Yuri was hard to figure out sometimes.

Other times, he wasn't.

Otabek finally moved from the door. "I don't think you really reminded me of anything tonight."

Yuri watched Otabek take a step toward him with crossed his arms as if he were cold. He looked to the floor. "I’m offended.”

"I never forgot how you make me feel in the first place."

"Otabek," Yuri warned, still weak; he turned away to face the window.

"Well?" Otabek was right behind him.

"... I am serious, though. I could hurt you. You know that. It’s harder than it seems.”

Otabek took Yuri by the hips and pulled him back. He fell into him loosely and without protest.

"I know you could," Otabek said into the space between Yuri’s shoulder and neck. Yes, he missed this. Yuri in his arms and nearly trembling with hunger. "I never stop thinking about it."

The words floated beyond them into the dark, and Otabek felt Yuri’s shoulders tense as he let the words settle.

He was caught somewhere between wishing he could see Yuri more and preferring the lack of light. The blackness was his last veil against the truths that haunted him.

Though he thought it’d be easy to dig into Yuri and lose himself there.

Yuri turned around in his arms. He looked up to Otabek, their height different minimal this near.

"You're crazy," he whispered, voice sliding into a hiss. He pressed his lips against Otabek’s collarbone, sending a chill down his back, a thrill up his spine. Otabek leaned his head back slightly, teeth biting lip.

"I guess that means," Yuri continued, lips grazing. Otabek’s hands slid to Yuri’s waist again. "You must like it.” Yuri finished his words but his statement wasn't complete.

Otabek didn't know what he was feeling along his neck at first; his senses were thrown the moment he realized Yuri was licking up his neck slowly.

He couldn’t not gasp. His nails dug in where he held Yuri.

It was incredible how much he reveled in this torment.

When Yuri reached Otabek’s jawline, he pulled his head back. His voice nearly trembling, he said, "I always thought you did, of course."

He smirked and looked up from under lashes. “I’m just done resisting shit, if you are.” He put his hands over Otabek’s on his waist and tugged them toward the bed.

"Yuri," Otabek breathed, frustration tumbling out. He pushed Yuri back the rest of the way, landing with knees on each side of Yuri’s hips.

Otabek kissed him into the bed, one hand knotting fingers into Yuri’s hair.

Yuri’s fingers curled into the top of Otabek’s pants and yanked him closer to him.

Otabek released Yuri’s mouth with a tug on his lower lip, and Yuri tensed to whatever that stirred in him.

He pulled back far enough to stare into Yuri’s eyes. They were reflective in the low light.

They were wide, watching.

Continuing their exchange seconds ago, Otabek whispered at last, "I _love_ it," and his voice strained. The second it took Yuri to backtrack along their conversation was punctuated by wild understanding opening his eyes even wider, and then he was flipping their position; Otabek’s back was suddenly against the bed, and the reminder of Yuri’s strength added to the fire filling him.

Yuri looked down at him, grinning wild and proud.

Otabek’s heart only had a second to melt before Yuri leaned down and his tongue was drawing another line up his throat.

He grabbed at Yuri’s waist, the fabric of his shirt already sliding up by their position. Otabek gripped the skin there, nails digging in, and Yuri went rigid a moment, mouth still opened against Otabek’s throat. Like he was hesitating, forcing himself pause just in case he lost it.

It was fucking intoxicating.

Otabek wanted to bring Yuri closer and closer to that edge - that place where he wanted to bite into Otabek more than anything. Otabek wanted to feel his own blood pound, his brain scream to get away, _his life was in danger_ \- he wanted to feel that all the damned time.

They were each other's demise, and it was exhilarating.

Yuri rested his head against Otabek’s shoulder, shaking slightly. Otabek let his grip loosen enough to slide his fingers up Yuri’s back, nails grazing skin only gently, as he slid his shirt up.

Yuri‘s fists clenched sheets in his hand.

Then, as if regaining a burst of strength, or perhaps some other determination entirely, he shot up. He yanked off his shirt and it spun somewhere into and dark, and then he took Otabek’s wrist and pulled him along until he willingly sat up.

“I want to feel your skin again,” Yuri mumbled as he pulled Otabek’s shirt off him for. Meanwhile Otabek could only gaze at Yuri and his wildness and perfection, even as he was already pushing him back onto the bed.

His hair fell toward him, and Otabek ran a hand through it again.

"Do I find you so beautiful because I’m the prey?" Otabek asked, idly surprised by just how drunken his words fell out.

"I don’t know, because that wouldn’t explain why I find you beautiful too," Yuri countered before bringing their mouths together again.

His thoughts fell away like dust when Yuri’s tongue ran across his lower lip.

When Yuri was readjusting to yank down his pants, the searing feeling rooted in Otabek spread more, growing out and ensnaring all his limbs. His entire being was only the pulsing desire to be touched by Yuri.

The room grew darker somehow.

So it was no secret he’d fallen into Yuri’s web, but he’d possibly spun his own too.

Maybe they never ended that first fight and somewhere they were still locked in combat, hunter versus prey and prey versus hunter, each assuming both roles, and at the end of everything, the victor would snap awake and be standing over the body of the loser.

Perhaps that all this was - some over-hyped showdown between one of the strongest vampires and the weakest-willed hunter.

These thoughts flashed through Otabek’s mind for a mere second - because then he was being touched by Yuri.

He hissed sharply, grabbed Yuri’s shoulders, felt about to become a thousand shards because being touched by Yuri finally was so much and immediately not enough.

Yuri was a beautiful and feral place, a rose bush with thorns already dripping the blood of admirers. Otabek wanted only his blood everywhere.

And he wanted any part of Yuri he could have.

With Yuri inside him with his body shuddering, eyes lust-filled and nails trying hard not to draw blood across his skin, it was easy to believe for the breadth of a second that he could maybe have him all.

~

Otabek was woken up by a shift in the bed.

It was almost completely quiet save for the rustle of blankets that came with that shift.

A tinge of light escaped in from a gap in the curtains.

Otabek rolled onto his back and immediately felt the pain across his skin, like small streaks of ice burned into him. Places where Yuri had dug nails in and gripped too fiercely.

The night dropped onto him and he sat up fast.

And - Yuri was still there, sitting up with the blankets strewn around his legs. His face was still as he stared at the door. The small light in the room made his eyes glisten.

"Someone is here," Yuri said before Otabek could speak.

That wasn't what he expected to hear first, but it was alarming all the same.

"One of them?" That would have been preferable right now, since they couldn't get in without being invited, and Otabek happened to feel quite confident he'd be able to resist another vampire's attempt at seduction.

But Yuri shook his head. "A hunter."

Fuck.

Otabek could barely find the strength to move; his limbs felt drunk.

"How long have I been asleep?" The night felt deep.

"I’m not sure," Yuri answered unhelpfully, then turned his eyes back to Otabek. Facing away from the light, Yuri’s expression was completely hidden.

His hair shined. It was in small disarray, and Otabek’s chest tightened. He wondered why Yuri was still here, for it wasn’t like he could sleep.

He felt the extremely human temptation to reach out and touch Yuri with affection.

Downstairs, someone entered the apartment building, and Yuri’s head whipped back around. "I think they want to see you. They’re familiar to me, but I don’t know why."

Yuri rose from bed and began yanking his clothes back on, and Otabek did his best to do so at a similar pace, despite the protests of his body.

"Something must have happened," Otabek sighed. "Something bad, probably."

"Well the timing is incredible." It took Otabek a second to realize that Yuri was making a joke. He felt like he hadn't heard Yuri speak anything other than serious or mocking before.

Yuri threw open the window and the night air flew in, trailed by a heavy cold.

"You should stay nearby and listen, if you can."

"Okay," Yuri said. "Sunrise is soon, I can't imagine what the use of coming to you now is."

Otabek had his hand on the bedroom doorknob when he turned back around. Yuri was still standing at the window, watching Otabek right back.

"Well, I’ll see you tonight," he said.

"See you."

And then he was out.

Moments later his front door knocked. Otabek opened it without asking who it was, confident in Yuri’s senses.

Yuuri stood there, his face grim. He managed a small smile upon seeing Otabek.

"You’re still up, good," Yuuri said. "Can I come in?"

Once again, Otabek was nervous to let someone into his space where secrets clung like spider webs. Yuri had stepped through his entire place now; it no longer felt fit for other humans.

His stomach tightened into a knot that only tightened further when he opened the door wide. He had no choice.

"Come in," he said. "I can make tea."

"That would be nice, actually," Yuuri said. "Make yourself some too, I have some bad news."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon/) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> wowww i've been getting some SUPER nice feedback, here and on other social media platforms. thank you guys. it means so much. i hope the story continues to serve as something good for everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

Yuuri made them wait until Otabek finished making tea to speak. But Yuuri was too upset about his news to make casual conversation, and Otabek could only latch onto his recent memories to distract him from the press of anxiety swelling in the room with Yuuri at its epicenter.

Otabek’s mind was too tired to fight his thoughts. He could hear Yuri’s sounds in his ears, taste him on his tongue. He swore he could even smell Yuri’s scent on him.

Yuri was everywhere and Otabek wanted to keep it that way now he’d felt what that could be like.

He set down a steaming cup in front of Yuuri, then sat down with his own.

He took his seat. “Okay,” he said.

Yuuri took a deep breath that raised his shoulders.

"Sal broke into the orphanage and got one of the children."

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah."

Yuuri spun his cup slowly. He hadn't taken a drink yet.

"How long ago did this happen?"

Yuuri nudged his glasses up his nose and shrugged. "Anywhere between an hour and two hours ago."

Otabek took a drink of his tea to let the scalding liquid distract him from the sick feeling in his stomach.

He swallowed, felt it burn.

"I see."

Yuuri shook his head. "Victor is out there with Minako trying to calm everyone down. The children need foster homes until Sal can be killed now that he can get in. I thought I should come tell you what happened before you saw the commotion in the morning."

"I appreciate that."

"Mhm. And of course we're going to start doubling efforts on trying to find Sal. We were thinking he was hiding out somewhere near West Square, but we have good reason to believe that isn't the case now."

Otabek already knew Sal wasn't there. He wouldn't know how to explain this knowledge to the others though, and the guilt Otabek tried to ignore pressed down hard on his chest. He wished there was an option for him here. There wasn’t much he could give or do, and Yuuri hanging near him still unsettled him. 

His chair scraped across the floor as he stood. "I have something for you. I’ll be back."

Otabek slipped into his bedroom with the smallest opening he could manage. He turned on the light but avoided glancing the bed. He couldn’t handle that right now. 

He came back with the small cotton pouch Yuri had suggested he buy all those months ago. "Ask Mr. Clyden for more of these and give them to the children to hold onto. They’re really potent."

Yuuri turned it over in his hand gently like it was a glass figure, not a bag of junk. "Okay, thanks. Anything to put their minds at ease.” He paused, and he clutched the pouch suddenly tight. “Some of them... saw."

Otabek winced. "I imagine."

"By the way," Yuuri turned in his chair toward the shut door of Otabek’s bedroom. "Do you have a window open? A draft came through when you went in there."

"Ah, I was opening it for some air just before you came and forgot to close it."

"Oh." Yuuri resumed staring at the pouch in his hands, forehead slightly creased.

Otabek leaned against his counter. The rest of his tea sat untouched on the kitchen table.

Yuuri brought his own to his lips, finally taking a sip. 

He moved so gently, it was hard to imagine he was a hunter. Otabek wouldn't believe it if he hadn't witnessed firsthand the fire in Yuuri’s eyes as he slammed a stake down into the chest of his foe.

"What do you need from me right now? Anything?"

Yuuri pursed his lips, letting them form a smile over the steam rising from the tea. He breathed it in.

He gave Otabek a wider smile then. "Just your continued cooperation," he said. His tone sounded laced in something like knowing, and Otabek knew then he was becoming paranoid.

He tried to shake the dark wave of thoughts rising.

"Thanks for stopping by. I can come by the station tomorrow."

"That’d be nice," Yuuri said, staring into his cup again. "Minako would like to see you once in a while." His eyes narrowed but his grin was a little teasing. “She thinks you avoid her shifts.”

Otabek groaned. “I do,” he said, because that wasn’t a new development that had come with Yuri, and Yuuri was well aware of the strained relationship he had with Minako.

Yuuri laughed, though it was short and died fast. “She just worries. I tell her she doesn’t need to, but, you know. Try, okay?”

“Yeah. It... could be nice to see her again," he said.

“You’re not a good liar, but thank you.” Yuuri took another sip. Otabek avoided him entirely, eyes to the floorboards.

Yuuri was too compassionate. He gave Otabek much more than he deserved.

He didn't know how else to get him to leave without outright saying so. Yuuri seemed constantly on the precipice of continuing their conversation, only to withdraw back into the cooling tea.

"Is there anything else?"

Yuuri looked deeper into the tea. "It’s just that... you're okay, right, Otabek?"

"You tell the others not to worry, so you shouldn’t either."

Yuuri’s eyes met his. Shit, he hadn’t meant to look at him. 

"That wasn't an answer."

"I’m fine."

"Otabek... What did that vampire say to you?"

Otabek ran a hand through his hair and looked for a new place to stare. The thoughts whirling in him did not mix well with this - he just needed to be left alone long enough for the sudden changes in his life to settle. Everything had been lifted up in a gust of wind, tossed around, and then left to freeze mid-air in a patternless chaos.

"That was months ago. You have to trust me that was far more... insignificant than it seemed. The worst part was JJ being in danger. That’s all."

"He’s getting really good," Yuuri said.

"I know he is."

Yuuri finally started to stand up. "Victor tells me to not bother you about it, but I just kept having this feeling something wasn't right. But - I think I can let it go."

Ugly relief filled him. "Thank you, Yuuri."

He saw Yuuri out and feigned normalcy as much as he could until he shut the door. Yuuri hadn't seemed like a particularly bright presence in his apartment, but as soon as he was shut out, darkness seemed to seep back in. It bled down the walls, coating everything with the darkness of his lies. 

Otabek fell back into his chair, shoving his tea aside. Luke warm, muddy water sloshed out onto the table.

"Shit," he muttered to himself, holding his head in his hands. Something ugly and cold uncurled in him; it made its way up his chest and spread until every breath felt a great burden. Fucking  _ dammit _ .

There was no way to predict Sal's attack. He and Yuri had already done their hunting earlier, and they hadn't gone as far out as the orphanage. They couldn't have known - yet Otabek couldn't deny it: they'd been here, together, snapping order in half while Sal had gone on the prowl.

The more he wrestled with the thought, the more he hated himself.

What the fuck were they doing?

"Otabek?"

His heart jumped to his throat, caught in a vortex of his own emotions barreling down on him - hell, it made him feel so  _ vulnerable _ .

"What are you doing here?" Otabek didn't mean the harshness of the words. Yuri stood in his doorway, hand on the knob.

"I heard," he said. "I’m sorry."

Otabek didn't like how strange the situation felt. He couldn't fathom why Yuri had come back to discuss this news. The sun would rise soon.

His guilt was deepened realizing he was almost happy to see him, because that only reminded him of the graces he'd fallen from.

"There’s no way we could have known. It would have happened either way."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I do." He took another step into the room. "Sal is secretive and good at covering his tracks. And we were done tonight."

" _ Were _ we?”

Yuri stopped at the side of the kitchen table adjacent to where Otabek sat and leaned against it. He gripped the sides as he spoke. "Trust me, I know. To think maybe if I’d been out there, maybe I would have noticed something. Maybe I’d at least know where he is hiding..."

They stayed quiet for a moment; the room was dark and laden in Otabek’s wrongdoings, but sharing the burden with Yuri helped.

He was as angry as Otabek was, and Otabek wanted to ask if there was something else Yuri hated about Sal. Something other than the threat he posed. Because all of this didn't seem quite worth a vampire’s time.

Otabek didn't have time to ask before Yuri was kneeling in front of him, hands on his knees. "We’re going to kill Sal, I promise. I swear I haven't lost sight of that goal, and if you haven't either, this is fine." He moved his hands to Otabek’s face, placing them on either side. "We are fine."

Yuri stood up before Otabek could answer - which was a relief, because his mind was blank.

"Sunrise." He sighed.

It was random, but Otabek asked, "What would happen if the sun touched you?"

Yuri grinned, flashing teeth. "Just for a second? I wouldn't be so pretty anymore."

Otabek managed a smile. "See you tonight?"

Yuri nodded, and Otabek watched him go.

He sat in the kitchen until the first hues of orange glowed from his window.

~

Minako greeted him with a too-wide smile. “Otabek!” she cheered. “So nice of you to come by.”

Otabek grit his teeth at the poison in her words.

“Of course,” he said. “I’m here to report a kill last night.”

She raised an eyebrow. “A kill where?”

“Old building a few streets from here.”

“Mhm. Nowhere near West Square then. You heard about that?”

Otabek steadied his gaze into her eyes. “Yes, it’s a tragedy.”

She inspected him a moment longer. Long enough to make him begin to seethe a little - did she think  _ he _ was goddamn Sal himself?

But then she shrugged and pulled a stack of papers from a drawer. She slid them to the edge of her desk. “Well, there you go.”

Minako grabbed her coat off her chair and swung it on. “I’m leaving for a few hours, so lock up when you’re done.”

Otabek stubbornly said nothing as she strolled past him, and he refused to wince as the door shut loud.

So much for trying to make himself present.

~

That night their target was a vampire occupying a furniture warehouse. Yuri had seen it creeping back inside minutes before the sun's crest over the mountains that morning.

They fought their foe by weaving through sheet-draped furniture ghosts.

Yuri‘s surprise attacks were affective here; the vampire was certainly not prepared for a fight like this from one of his own. Even Otabek lost track of Yuri at times between the shapes in white.

Moments after Otabek staked their encounter of the night, Yuri was pushing Otabek against the wall and kissing him.  

He was surprised. It was inappropriate. But he kissed him back, then nearly growled as Yuri pulled away to kiss down his neck. With lips parted, too - it was so fucking close to teeth and biting and he wished so much it could be. 

Otabek was so weak in his touch; his head hit back against the wall, gripping Yuri’s waist. "Yuri, what are you -"

"Shh, unless you want me stop."

Yuri pressed his thigh between Otabek’s legs, and Otabek’s head knocked forward with a hitch to his breath. He rested his head on Yuri’s shoulder as Yuri pulled his shirt down enough to touch his skin there.

His teeth did graze skin then - Yuri’s control was incredible, and the way he held tight to Otabek as if grounding himself had Otabek’s heart beating low inside him. He was practically nothing but a beat.

When Yuri’s teeth dragged closer to his neck, Otabek held Yuri tighter and bit down into his shoulder, because at least  _ he _ could.

Yuri’s small gasp was delicious, but Yuri took back his power and pulled away enough to drop to his knees.

It was ridiculous how dizzy Otabek was against his touch; his fists clenched against the feeling of Yuri pulling down his clothes, and then found place in Yuri’s hair as he felt his mouth.

~

“Another batch of silvers?” Mr. Clyden slapped the rag he was wiping the counter with down and wiped his hands on his pants.

“Yes.” Otabek couldn’t smile.

He reached for where he kept the bullets. “Work probably gettin’ pretty crazy?”

“Because of what happened at the orphanage? Yes.”

“It’s horrible,” Mr. Clyden agreed. “Those poor children.”

“Their lives are hard enough already.”

Mr. Clyden heaved a deep, heavy sigh. “Indeed. Well, that’ll be -”

Otabek pushed the money forward on the counter, exact change. He grabbed the bullets and turned to leave.

“Good day, Mr. Clyden.”

~

“Fuck,” Yuri gasped from under Otabek. He gripped the sheets with his hands at his sides, legs wrapped tight around Otabek’s waist.

He kissed along Yuri’s neck, now familiar with the taste of his skin under his lips. He tried not to think about how much warmer he was tonight. He’d fed recently, and though Otabek knew this would happen, envy burned in his chest.

He distracted himself from that heat as he drew Yuri down further, again and again. Yuri, underneath him with hair fallen around his head and his usual wild scowl broken apart into pieces Otabek could never gather in time. 

Yuri’s back arched, and Otabek bit down where he knew those scars were. Yuri hummed something deliriously.

When Otabek pulled back with shaky arms, Yuri was grinning and half-lidded. He grabbed Otabek’s chin and pulled him down into a kiss.

~

Otabek pushed the station door open and almost ran into Yuuri leaving.

“Hey, Otabek.” Yuuri smiled. Victor was right behind him and gave his greeting too.

A quick scan showed that Minako was indeed not here, and Otabek relaxed.

“Hey guys. Just leaving?” He walked past them and headed toward Minako’s desk. He had another set of kills he’d procrastinated on reporting.

“We were,” answered Victor.

“Oh, but Otabek,” said Yuuri. “I just remembered a question I have.”

His stomach tightened but he tried to not sound strained. “Hm?” He pulled the report papers out of her desk and sought a pen.

“Those little pouches from Clyden’s you gave me are great. First of all, thanks. But where’d you find out about them?”

He shrugged. “Trial and error.”

~

Yuri’s fingertips pressed into Otabek’s thighs hard. If it wouldn't draw blood, he'd want Yuri to dig his nails into his skin. He wanted to be carved into deep and torn apart.  

He was battling himself on begging Yuri to touch him while inside him, wanting this to last forever and not at all.

Otabek opened his eyes slightly, but the whole sight of Yuri poured in - Yuri and his body that didn't sweat but managed to look so bedraggled and undone. He moved over Otabek, pressing him into the bed with each shift of his muscles.

Air choked in his throat as he noticed Yuri’s teeth biting his lip; his fangs were drawn, sharp points somehow not cutting into his own flesh. Otabek didn't know how to process this beyond fathoming whatever Yuri felt to be so intense that his body mixed the signals of desire.

That was too incredible of a thought, and together the sight and drag of Yuri was too much.

He’d never not needed directly touched before, yet here he was, hands full of the pillow under his head and teeth clamped down around a groan, shuddering down around Yuri.

Yuri’s eyes flew open and he almost hesitated, clearly surprised, but he smirked and it was deadly, lips parting around fangs like he just knew what had unraveled him, and he was living for it.

~

Otabek smacked the stub on the stake into the back of the vampire's head as Yuri came from the front, knocking it something fierce in the stomach. A sharp crack sounded from the vampire’s body. They yelled something that Otabek didn’t catch while he read Yuri’s expression, the way his eyebrows rose a little and his eyes darted to the left.

Otabek nodded briefly at the small communication, and Yuri grabbed the vampire’s shoulders and twisted them around enough that Otabek could land a stake through the chest.

They battled together now like soulmated hunters, no longer needing to waste verbal cues to the air; familiar enough with each other's fighting patterns from months of working together, it only took the flow of battle and the occasional gesture to understand the other’s next move.

It was so seamless that sometimes Otabek forgot there was an enemy near them at all, and that this wasn’t some strange dance between a pair of people.

There was also a constant buzz to their meetings now, because suddenly these night hours weren't enough for themselves. Not enough to wrap themselves up in each other and forget the horrors of their world a short while.

But they couldn't  _ not  _ keeping hunting, because without the precondition of their deal to kill Sal, they would have to face what they were doing.

Sometimes Otabek wondered if he had ever been destined for anything normal.

If it had to be this way, he was glad it was with Yuri.

Even if by morning light Otabek’s chest was cold and barren as the bed, it was worth the moments Yuri filled his senses completely.

Yuri flashed a grin at Otabek that made his heart leap. "Let’s get rid of this one, shall we?"

All of this also meant they didn’t bother having Otabek stick around for the morning to see the town if they could avoid it.

An hour later, Otabek was kissing along Yuri’s chest as Yuri straddled him.

Yuri held Otabek’s arm to his mouth and drank.

Otabek kissed against the swallowing of Yuri’s throat, something sinister stirring inside him. He wanted it to last longer, wanted Yuri to drink him until he blacked out.

"I think that’s -" Otabek whispered, voice trembling with their delicacy against the intensity he felt inside.

Yuri pulled away and his voice also shook. He spoke next to Otabek’s ear. "I know," he breathed. Paused, like he was still pulling himself away. Otabek dug nails into Yuri’s waist with his other hand. When Yuri spoke again, all he repeated was, "I know."

Otabek felt as Yuri tied his arm again. It was only when he moved his head up did the light-headedness hit, and Otabek’s vision clouded black for a moment.

But suddenly Yuri was kissing him, blood between both their mouths.

Yuri pulled away enough to whisper, "Stay with me, Otabek," against his lips.

"I’m okay," Otabek said, and took a deep breath. His heart beat fast. He ignored any inclination of danger and put their lips together again.

~

"Was it good?" Otabek climbed up him, smirking at Yuri’s flustered expression. Yuri threw his hands to his face.

"I don't know where that came from." He rolled over, away from Otabek.

Otabek pulled him back to him by the hips. "I think I know," he murmured against the back of his neck. His hair tickled Otabek’s eyelids.

Otabek was drifting along the edge of sleep when Yuri spoke again.

"I’m not normal."

"Hm?" he wrapped an arm around him lazily, distantly happy to have a chance at lucidity while Yuri was still here.

"I’m not a normal vampire."

Otabek’s eyes fluttered open, those words pulling him back into the foreground of his life.

“Well, I’m not a normal human.”

"But I’m serious." Yuri twisted around to face Otabek. "I spend so much time pretending I’m human.”

Otabek didn’t know how to respond.

"What are we doing?" Yuri pressed on.

Otabek gazed over Yuri’s face.

He searched for the humanity that Yuri claimed to own. But he didn't know what he was supposed to find, because he noticed long ago that when he looks in the mirror, he sees the same thing he saw now in Yuri.

They were a lot alike, he thought.

And where did that leave them?

~

The fire felt huge in the dark. They’d added brush and wood to keep it roaring deep in the pit the town had dug out for this purpose.

He and Yuri threw the body into it, where it would slowly burn around the others that hadn’t completely but burned away yet.

Heat felt good in the cold, and Otabek stood near the flames. He watched the mountains to the west that couldn’t quite be seen in the dark.

Near him, Yuri was quiet.

Otabek let his eyes move from the mountains to Yuri; the light flickered in his eyes. Shadows danced across his face.

He was lovely and fierce in these quiet moments.

Otabek wrestled with himself when Yuri looked this beautiful. He’d recall how dangerous Yuri still was, but more often now he could only see someone dazed by the pace of their world.

Where did the depth in Yuri’s thoughts and emotions reach?

A breeze passed through, pushing the fire and changing the light in his eyes. Those strands Otabek now knew to be so soft brushed across his face.

His stare shifted to Otabek. There may have been the hints of a smile on his lips.

The part of Otabek that noticed these traits on Yuri, the part that yearned to reach out to him and touch his cheek, the part that would be buried by Yuri in his own bed upon the turn of the hour – that part constricted his chest and hurt his heart.

“Looks contained,” Yuri said.

Otabek blinked.

“Let’s go.”

The night was as bleak as the snap of a tree branch: a sharp crack of tangibility and nothing more. Snow laid its strange silence over the town. The air smelled clean.

At least with the snow’s reflection, Otabek could see without the aid of the moon or the fluttery streetlights.

“I’ve been thinking about our search for Sal,” Yuri said. His was voice was so isolated from other sounds that it nearly echoed in the void of night.

Yuri’s head was down. Otabek thought if he lifted his chin and stared into those eyes again, he’d see a heavy depth welled deep like two night skies.

He tried to focus.

“What about it?”

Yuri kicked snow up with his shoes. Tiny flakes drifted down from above.

“Pretty sure I’m missing something. I keep thinking he’s living on the fringes, or far away from the center of Hollow at the very least. But all my leads run dry. And the more I think about it, the more that would be… a normal vampire thing to do. Sal isn’t normal.”

_ I’m not a normal vampire. _

“Are you thinking he’s somewhere near town square?” Otabek let his eyes pan through the dark, wary at the thought of Sal’s form looming behind any of the nearby building corners.

Yuri shrugged. “It’s just something I’m going to start considering a possibility.”

“Okay. I’ll do that on my end, too.”

“Another thing… I noticed those flowers blooming outside your place. What’s with them?”

“Ah. Daphne.” Otabek grinned, finding this amusing somehow. “Do they smell strong? They’re supposed to be disorienting, scent-wise.”

“They do the job.”

“Sorry if it’s… annoying.”

Yuri shrugged. “Not really except… are they planted all over town? I don’t see them much but I feel like I smell them a lot.”

“Not really.”

He frowned. “I guess their scent drifts easily.”

They walked along the cobblestone roads. Their feet crunched softly on snow. Otabek put his hands in his pockets to savor their little remaining warmth.

Yuri’s hung freely at his side.

“What does it feel like to be a vampire?”

That reeled in Yuri’s distant gaze. He scrunched up his nose as he accused, “What did you ask me?”

“I’m serious. What does it feel like?”

Another several paces across the stones went by, and Otabek thought Yuri wasn’t going to answer. He would have understood.

“Take a deep breath,” Yuri demanded.

Otabek did; as he expected, the cold burned his nose.

“Did you feel that relief? That – that relief that you’re going to live another few minutes?”

“I guess you could call it that.”

“Nothing is like that for me.” Yuri pressed his hands to his chest, once over the space of each lung. “Everything is dull. I breathe air to speak. Most of my organs don’t function anymore, but I’m alive enough that I don’t rot into the earth. Something like blood runs through my veins and lets my brain keep thinking. And my heart beats only often enough to keep it all from falling apart.”

He let his arms extend before him, hands outstretched like he could almost capture his words and build them into a tangible construct for Otabek to witness. “I’m like a ghost.”

“And the hunger?” Otabek couldn’t help but ask.

Snow fell a little heavier around them, pale ashes against bleak, oblong structures of buildings.

Yuri gently touched his throat.

The image of Yuri and that young man from so long ago came to his mind; Yuri, in a state where he hardly had control of himself, yelling at Otabek to get back  _ before he killed him too. _

“It never stops,” Yuri whispered. The three words came out as separate, distinct evils lurking in the night: It. Never. Stops. They wrapped around the base of Otabek’s spine, dead things tangling into his vertebrate.

They walked on in silence. Otabek’s apartment came into view with its daphne bushes.

“Does this mean you remember what it was like to be human?”

“No,” Yuri said all too fast.

Maybe there was something he was holding back, but Otabek had already dragged their conversation far out into the drear of the night. He wanted to take Yuri into his apartment, to melt away his forlorn expression, and to make his heart exist for something more than a ghost of a life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon/) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> these boys are wearing down my heart but at least they aren't holding back (as much) ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is one of my favorite chapters! enjoy ~

Winter was beginning to lay low and the last of the snow was melting. Spring would soon break into the trees and sky. Otabek would have welcomed it if it didn't mean daylight hours cutting into his time with Yuri.

Though of course they hoped to discover Sal before the season turned completely.

Mrs. Nishigori was standing outside the apartment when Otabek left, frowning into the daphne blooms. The air was thick with their aroma now.

Without greeting, she said, “I think an animal has been eating these.”

Otabek stopped and stared at the row of plants. Some did have their leaves ripped off and the flower missing. But the daphne were planted densely. Aesthetically it did not make much of a difference.

“Maybe,” he said lamely, not sure how to respond to the complaint. “I never see anything when I'm out but I guess it's likely.”

“What would eat daphne?”

“I wouldn't know that.”

She ran a hand through her hair and laughed. “Sorry, I know you're not my gardener. I just don't want small animals holing up around here.”

“Sorry if maybe they're attracted to the plants.”

“Oh! No, it's worth it if they really can do what you told me. Just an unfortunate price to pay.”

“Mom!”

One of her triplets burst from around the corner.

“Mom!” she repeated. “The flowers have been messed the whole way around!”

“Oh, my,” Mrs. Nishigori said. She tucked her fingers into her daughter’s hair and pulled a dead leaf out.

“Hunter Otabek!” the girl piped upon seeing him. He wasn’t sure if this was Axel, Lutz, or Loop, unfortunately. “Are you off to kill vampires?”

“Lutz, they’re only awake at night,” Mrs. Nishigori said, wiping dirt off her pants that her daughter managed to rub on her already.

“I’m meeting with others to make plans to do that,” Otabek said to her, trying a smile. He never knew how to talk to kids.

“Where are your sisters?” Mrs. Nishigori asked.

“Picking flowers so the animal can’t eat them!”

“Oh, no, that’s not what we need,” she huffed. She took Lutz by the hand and pulled her off around the corner of the building, completely forgetting Otabek in her frenzy.

Which was fine. Otabek resumed walking, oddly stiff from that interaction.

It’d only almost made him late for the meeting Minako was holding.

They were seated around a fire Victor was currently stoking. They made a small circle, with Victor and Yuuri on the couch and Minako, Otabek, and JJ on chairs pulled up next to it.

The topic of their meeting was unclear to Otabek. He suspected this wasn't due to his own negligence, but of Minako purposefully keeping him slightly in the dark.

She folded her hands over her crossed legs.

“I’d like to do a heavy patrol tonight. We have a small group of young people interested in being taken on as apprentices this spring and I don’t want anything like Sal a threat when that time comes.”

“Heavy patrol?” JJ asked.

“Instead of cautiously inspecting one section of town, I want broad sweeps done by all of us, the entire night. Not one space should be without hunters in range for more than half an hour.”

“That sounds extensive, Minako,” Yuuri warned. “We will wear out.”

She nodded. “It’ll be exhausting and a lot of walking. Because of that I want everyone in pairs.”

Otabek’s heart sank as she looked him right in the eyes.

“Otabek, I want JJ with you tonight. Can you do that?”

Yuuri's head whipped to Minako. Everyone else looked at Otabek.

It was  _ fine _ .

“Of course,” he said. Of course.

“Good to hear it.”

Otabek could handle this if not for the fact that sundown was approaching. Yuri would be at his apartment soon. This was about to be complicated.

She continued, “Can you two start at the end of East Square and make your way through the north of town? Victor and Yuuri, I want you two starting near the orphanage, since that’s pretty northwest. Circle round the streets coming back in the direction of the station. I’ll start here.”

Otabek held in a grimace. He and Yuri planned to inspect the buildings near the orphanage tonight.

To distract from the dismay he feared he was failing to hide, he asked, “You just want thorough and fast sweeps of the whole city to see if we can catch Sal out by chance, right?”

“Yes. Don’t get sidetracked in one place for too long.

“Now if we don’t have any luck tonight, if we don’t even get a lead or a hint of something, I’m going to Sellow tomorrow and speaking with the hunters there.”

“Oh, Phichit is there,” Yuuri piqued. Otabek noticed him grab Victor’s hand. “Would you be recruiting help? I could come.”

Minako’s eyes softened. “I know you haven’t heard from him in a while. But they’ve been busy with their own trouble, I think. I don’t know the specifics, but... Only I should go, if it comes to that. I’ll see if I can catch him for you though.”

Yuuri nodded, lips pursed. Otabek hadn’t known Yuuri wasn’t hearing from another hunter. Phichit moved to Sellow shortly after Otabek signed on as an apprentice. He’d been kind.

They discussed a little more in depth about the night to come, and Otabek was increasingly aware of the light dying outside. At this rate, he wouldn’t have a chance to warn Yuri.

“So please try to be back here at 4,” Minako requested. “This should allow all of us plenty of time.”

She stood, still talking, and walked to her desk. Of course if you do have a run-in with Sal,” she paused to pick up a package. She unfolded the paper carefully. “Send these off.”

She handed each of them a projectile flare.

“And we will come to you.” She sighed. “I’m sorry to make our night so hectic. And many more nights until we find that vampire.”

“It’s our job,” Victor said.

The fire cracked low and soft through their shared silence, and then Minako dismissed them.

JJ tailed Otabek straight out of the station.

The sky was a heavy slate with only fringes of pink where the sun still bled.

“I left something at my place,” Otabek stated before JJ could speak. “I can meet you somewhere by the set of the sun?” He looked to the sky again. “A few minutes after, I guess.”

“I can just come with you,” JJ offered. “So we don’t have to separate.”

Otabek hesitated. JJ stood with hands in his jacket pockets, innocently, plaintively waiting on his response, and suddenly Otabek was awash with guilt. This person had been his apprentice once. For a short while, JJ looked up to him. Otabek was a thousand shades darker of a person than those many months ago. He’d hardly spoken to JJ since then, and facing him now forced him to glimpse the trail of his actions.

JJ grinned. “I’m good company,” he added.

Otabek felt the last of the sun dip out like the draining of his morality.

Tonight Yuri would have to figure things out himself.

“Actually it wasn’t that important. I didn’t realize how late it already is. Let’s just head east.”

JJ’s brows creased in momentary concern before shrugging it away. “Okay!”

On their walk, JJ talked about his training under Yuuri and sometimes Victor, sometimes both of them. He talked about how he hoped within a year he could take on an apprentice. He talked about being excited to marry his girlfriend.

Everything he said was like goddamn sunbeams trying to break through a smothering darkness. Otabek hadn’t been around someone so cheerful in a while.

It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, except he lacked sufficient responses to almost everything JJ said.

He didn’t seem to notice or mind.

They were pacing down a street an hour and a half into their patrol, and Otabek had finally succumbed to unintentionally phasing out of JJ’s long rambles when JJ ended a tangent with, “— except Minako, of course. Who knows with her.”

“Wait, I - I missed that. What was that?”

JJ didn’t hesitate. “Oh, about my friend who’s an applicant for apprenticeship. I said I think everyone would like him, except I wasn’t sure about Minako.”

“Why?”

JJ laughed and bounced in front of Otabek so that he was walking backwards in front of him. “Have you not noticed? Maybe it’s just me. But personally I think she's sort of cold. Never sure if she likes me."

Otabek grinned at that - and almost laughed. No one ever actually shared that sentiment with him before. Perhaps it was funny as well because, compared to Otabek, there was so much for Minako to like about JJ.

"She likes you," Otabek said. "Trust me."

JJ seemed pleased by that. "If you say so!" He hopped back into step beside Otabek.

The night swept on in still darkness. Otabek had become so used to Yuri's sensitivity to the environment that he feared he wasn't paying attention. JJ at least still had the excuse of inexperience.

But the world remained quiet save for the occasional stray cat racing under a lamp post or straggler shutting their door.

They'd managed silence a while, but JJ was obviously becoming bored, and even resorted to kicking stones up in their path. They scurried ahead several meters, rattling off the buildings in the big silence as a distraction they didn't need. It was becoming mildly irritating.

Where did Yuri's night end up taking him? Otabek was trying hard not to think about abandoning him until after tonight, but with the stillness and silence, the thoughts were destined to come.

Part of him was concerned Yuri would worry about him - but that was ridiculous.

Otabek was relieved when JJ broke his stone kicking streak to talk again.

"I know this town is pretty small, and it definitely isn't the smallest, but don't you think it's weird we've had so much trouble finding Sal?"

"I do."

"Like... where do all these vampires go? I know some migrate between towns, but we know Sal is here because of that recent incident."

"Sal is clever."

"Yeah, I know. But what about that one that attacked you?"

The ground seemed to sway underfoot. JJ continued.

"We never saw it again. Do you think it went somewhere? -- Wait, is it okay to ask you about that? Sorry, I-"

"No, it's fine," Otabek defended himself fast. "It's fine. But I don't know the answer to that, though it's definitely possible. Likely, even."

"Yeah." JJ pondered a few moments, hands behind his back and eyes to the sky. Otabek avoided saying anything else in hopes the conversation would drop, but alas, JJ declared, "It was the first vampire I saw."

"Yes."

"I didn't see another one for a long time after, so I imagined them all like that for a long time. That's funny, isn't it?"

Otabek squinted into the shadows of an alley nearby. He almost wished something would be there. "How is it funny?"

JJ huffed laughter and threw his hands behind his head. "You know, that one was so... small?"

Oh, god. Otabek couldn't find words.

"I thought they'd all be that small! That's silly, I know, because they were humans once. But it was small, right?"

"I, uh-" Otabek wanted to be able to say he hadn't noticed or couldn't remember, but those all sounded too lame of lies for the question being asked. Through JJ's perspective, this was a completely normal and expected thing for them to reminisce about. He drew in a deep breath and said, "Yes, he was small."

" _ He? _ You're so polite, Ota-" JJ whirled around. "Did you hear something?"

"No." Otabek stopped walking and tried to listen, but his face was annoyingly hot and he struggled to focus.

They stayed quiet only a second. With a shrug, JJ continued walking.

"Anyway, the first one I actually fought was taller than me! And kind of ugly. It could still use that, you know, STARE, but it was sorta mangled-looking. I thought the one that attacked you was really beautiful, in a monster-sort-of way."

"You weren't even that close to him - it," Otabek struggled.

"I guess not, but -" JJ leaned in closer and Otabek tried not to wince. " _ You _ were. I know that was awful for you but I mean, that was definitely one of the prettier ones, right? I'm just curious, I can still count my encounters on two hands. Well, maybe three."

"I - I don't -"

JJ laughed far too loud, the sound almost a shout in the night. It jumped Otabek's already tired heart.  

"I'm messing with you! I'm just trying to get the quiet and stoic Otabek to share an opinion for once."

He nudged Otabek in the shoulder as he said this, but Otabek was so stiff and stressed by the conversation that he didn't budge with the force.

JJ let that subject drop, and his tale of his first true encounter with a vampire lasted them until they heard a sound down the street. It was only one loud thud, but it was definitely more than the rustle of the wind or an accident of a pouncing cat.

He and JJ shared one understanding look before moving against the wall of buildings near the alley the sound came from.

There was a grotesque, wet noise seeping from the darkness there. JJ was in front of Otabek, and he leaned just beyond the corner of the building they were against to see, but turned back to Otabek.

"Can't see," he mouthed, then pulled out a flare. Otabek nodded and crept beside JJ so he could watch.

In a steady series of motions, JJ lit the flare and threw it far into the alleyway.

There was indeed something in the alley.

Two somethings.

Otabek stared in frozen horror; JJ yelled something.

A vampire cradled the mangled body of something that still writhed in their arms, and Otabek wasn't sure how he knew - but JJ seemed to register it, too.

The victim in their arms was another vampire.

"Oh my fucking god," JJ gasped again.

The vampire rose from their bite and hissed at them; their eyes were a yellow sheen in the flare light.

Together Otabek and JJ both withdrew their guns and stepped into the alley. The vampire growled and muttered something low and guttural as they rose to their feet and dropped their victim to the ground. It slumped into the cobbles, still twitching. Its limbs were so mangled and twisted -- Otabek briefly realized he never considered the implication of vampires harming each other.

One would have to destabilize the other so badly that they couldn't heal in time to defend themselves as they consciously had the un-life sucked from them - until they were a monster, void of what little life they retained as a vampire.

God, it was horrible.

He fired.

The bullet plummeted into the vampire’s shoulder, and they jerked back with a louder hiss. Black wetness splattered against the wall.

The alley was a dead end, at least. This one was cornered.

JJ launched forward the same moment the vampire did. He had his knife extended in one hand and gun held before him.

Otabek quickly traded out his gun for his stake, hoping JJ could handle stunning the thing enough for him to end them completely. Then he'd end the suffering of the other.

He glanced down, and it was staring at him, hair matted against its forehead.

He swallowed hard and looked back up to watch JJ barely dodge a grab by the vampire as his knife striked down on their arm; his gun blasted, and he hit them in the side.

It was a mess with such close proximity.

Otabek went forward with the stake, and suddenly he was nearly slamming into JJ's back.

"JJ!" Otabek yelled, and JJ stumbled out of the way awkwardly, stepping right into a strike from the vampire again. He blocked the attack barely with his knife, the vampire's hand coming down straight on the blade.

They were a staggering, nasty mess now.

Otabek went in with the stake, closing his eyes against the sickening crunch and hiss of the vampire's collapse as he slammed them into the wall.

From behind he could hear the sound of JJ going for the other one.

After a few breaths struggling to be caught in the dying chaos, JJ exclaimed, "It was eating one of its own!"

Otabek had almost forgotten this wasn't news the others knew, and he was grateful JJ spoke first to remind him of this.

"That's -" Otabek's mind was spinning too fast to think of a clever lie that implied he didn't know this already, so he just shook his head and told the truth: "What the fuck."

"We have to tell the others!" JJ spun round. He stared between the two vampires. "After getting rid of them, I mean. But what the hell? Why would it do this?"

"It must be- it- we shouldn't theorize until we see the others," Otabek decided. JJ nodded heavily.

"Yes, you're totally right. Let's hurry and get these out of here." He kicked his foot on the one he'd staked down, and Otabek swallowed hard and looked away.

~

"I can't deal with this news right now," Minako said, shaking her head. "What the hell is going on in our town? We're going to shit!"

All four hunters stood before her. They'd not even lit the fireplace. The room was drafty and filled with ghosts.

"I'm going to Sellow tomorrow for sure," she continued. "I'll mention this but honestly... and you're SURE it was another vampire?"

"Yes," JJ said.

She was looking at Otabek though.

"Yes, it really, definitely was," he answered.

"Is this a power thing?" Victor suggested.

It was hard for Otabek not to help his fellow hunters out by exclaiming  _ yes, yes it is! _

"It's late and we are all too tired to discuss this in-depth," Yuuri offered. "Minako, I hope I'm not out of line speaking up, but we should all sleep. Especially you."

She rubbed her forehead. "I know," she sighed. "I just wanted answers tonight. Not more questions."

"There will be answers soon," Yuuri tried comforting. "But not tonight."

They were dismissed.

Otabek was caught between wanting to race back to his apartment to catch the last hours of the night and staying out until the sun peaked.

The night had been overwhelming; it'd been a long time since he spent so much time with the others. Hunting with JJ so long was draining. Fighting with JJ for the short span of time they had was draining.

It was all so draining.

He wasn’t sure if he could handle explaining things to Yuri tonight.

Yet when he really thought about it, seeing Yuri never felt like a bad thing.

No one was outside his apartment when he arrived.

He didn't think his heart sank - if it did, he ignored the feeling.

He passed the beds of daphne. The memory of Mrs. Nishigori twelve hours before idly sifted through his mind.

The apartment was silent as he went upstairs and through halls. He felt tense.

He shut the night out with the click of his door lock and slumped against it. It was funny that the home held so much power against a vampire.

Otabek wasn't one to think about faith, but he definitely felt safe and protected inside these walls.

He left his shoes by the door and felt his way through the dark to his bedroom.

When he turned the light on, he noticed his curtains were parted. That only seemed odd for a second. Otabek was sure he'd closed them earlier in the day, but with his life lately, it wouldn't be uncharacteristic for him to be missing a detail.   

Something pressed onto his shoulder.

The tension of the night was apparently still heavy on his chest, because Otabek acted fast, grabbing his knife and holding it out as he whirled around.

He was met with Yuri's wide but unfrightened eyes as Otabek held the blade against his neck. The silver gleamed.

Otabek stumbled back, pulling the knife with him. He pulled it behind his back as if to hide the fact he’d nearly attacked him.

"Yuri," he breathed. "What are you doing here?"

Yuri's mouth opened and then shut. He scowled and looked to the ground.

Otabek took the time spent on his hesitance to unload his weapons and stuff them into a drawer. "I'm sorry about tonight," he started to explain. "I got roped into a task with another hunter."

"I know," Yuri said. "I figured. But then I followed you."

Otabek blinked. His chest twisted in ways that weren't exactly... unpleasant. But...

"You followed me?"

"I was curious to see you interact with your fellow hunters."

Yuri tucked his arms behind his back.

Otabek noticed his jacket laying across the chair in his bedroom. How long had he been here waiting for him?

The temperature seemed to rise already. Otabek ran a hand threw his hair, the night turning a direction he didn't mentally prepare himself for.

"How long did you follow me?"

"I saw you fight with him." Yuri stepped from the wall.

"Well I - I did," Otabek said. He glanced at the clock on his wall; it was already five. "Yuri, the sun -"

"I know when the sun rises," he interrupted. "Do you like fighting with the others?"

Otabek didn't answer, because Yuri was stepping directly in front of him, close enough that Otabek could see the brilliant green of his eyes. They were a menace, as always.

Otabek fought for words though. “Why are you asking that?”

“I think that one human likes fighting with you. So, do you?”

He reached behind himself and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

With eyes unwavering now, he started tugging it over his head. Otabek swallowed hard, the warming temperature of the room condensing inside of him.

Yuri was still waiting for an answer, though - and he was here, beautiful and dangerous. Pulling Otabek into his web, except Otabek did have a choice. He’d always had a choice.

He’d always chosen Yuri.  

With the last dredges of his mental strength, Otabek pushed the chaos of the night out of his mind and let himself just be here.

Yuri’s shirt hit the ground the same second Otabek pulled him in by the waist.

Lips next to his ear, he whispered, "Do you not like seeing me with someone else?"

Yuri clutched at Otabek's jacket and pressed his head into his shoulder. "I fucking hate it," he hissed. "Make me forget it.  _ Please _ ."

The bedroom door shuddered in its frame as Otabek pushed Yuri into it. He let Otabek do so, arms now helplessly at his sides as Otabek kissed deep into him, already so thrown by his body and voice.

He reached out and flicked the light off, and then there was only the pale light coming in through the window.

Yuri growled low in his throat as Otabek tugged his lower lip with his teeth. He curled his fingers into Yuri's pants, relishing the graze against his hipbones, and dragged him toward the bed. All the while he kissed him, somewhere between a mess and something incredible as Yuri followed him across the room and then fell onto the sheets over him.

He stayed overtop him for a moment. Otabek savored the moments of Yuri's hips pressed between his legs, his bare torso laying over him, but Yuri asked Otabek for one favor tonight - and that was to make him forget.

Otabek pulled back and Yuri almost chased his lips, but stopped and opened his eyes to stare down. They were wide, wide and wild. Otabek's heart thrummed straight down his body.

"I hope you forget your goddamn name," he said.

He flipped their position on the bed and Yuri landed onto the sheets softly.

So. Fucking. Graceful. Always.

It drove him mad.

He wanted to tear that grace apart.

Otabek yanked down his pants. He wanted Yuri so much, and Yuri wanting him so much back was so overwhelming, he almost needed a moment to dig his nails into Yuri's thighs and worship him for a silent second. But he pushed himself to focus and didn't wait to touch Yuri.

Yuri gasped at first, and when Otabek took him into his mouth and swallowed him deep, Yuri's hands slapped down onto the sheets.

"Otabek!"  

Otabek gripped Yuri by the hips and dragged him to him more. Yuri's hands went to his head, his fingers curled into his hair. He spread his legs wider, hips rising slightly with the position change, and Otabek couldn’t not moan around him. He dug nails into his skin.

The fire Yuri set in Otabek was thick and forever burning. He felt it mirrored in Yuri. Despite the pallor and coolness of his skin, Otabek could see the desire that existed only for him alight in his eyes.

It was a constant chase between them, as it'd been the moment they met.

And, of course, there was never enough time.

They were pushed by the pressing minutes and Otabek wished tearing the clock off the wall would freeze it.

He kissed along Yuri's back, and he bit down whenever Otabek being inside him made him seethe. He brought his hand between Yuri’s thighs, and Yuri whined, Otabek bit, Yuri cried out, Otabek nearly died.

He was a mess of heat and sweat against Yuri's body so less alive, yet Otabek knew he only felt a semblance of life right now  _ because  _ of Yuri. He supposed once he thought Yuri made him feel dead, but perhaps back then Yuri had truly yet to wake him up. Because this felt like living.  

Perhaps they were two half-dead beings that could only feel fully alive together.

There would never be time enough to understand their juxtaposition or the poetry they sewed on accident - and he'd have to settle with incomplete sentences and words that cut off without an echo.

It would never, ever be  _ enough _ .

It drained him to death because some part of him felt like Yuri COULD be that:

_ Enough _ .

Yuri crumpled his hands into his own hair and cried out as he collapsed around Otabek, and they both forgot everything. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon/) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> comments are cool and mean this world and the next! thanks again to those of you who have and who've reached out on twitter/tumblr T_T sometimes i'm shy and overwhelmed lol but damn!! you all are great!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY.
> 
> i love you all.

It was three days later that Minako called another meeting.

“Oh good! Otabek is here!” JJ yelled the moment Otabek stepped through the station doors.

“Good.” Minako was already leaning against the wall, staring him down. One of her eyebrows curved sharply to accentuate her disapproval at – well, he wasn’t sure. But Otabek did his best to stand straight despite the ache in his lower back.

“Good morning,” he said. “Here to report –“

“How many kills?” She rolled her eyes and reached for the pen on her desk. “Ten? Twenty?”

Otabek ground his teeth. If Minako had something to say, she needed to say it.

“None,” he said.

She and JJ both looked over at him. JJ looked merely confused; Minako’s eyes narrowed.

“None?”

“East square seems clear for now.” Although that comment was true, it was only so after the kill he and Yuri made the previous night. But apparently that one would be lost to the records.

It wouldn’t be the first.

Otabek didn’t back down from Minako’s penetrating stare; she couldn’t break him, no matter how hard she wanted to bust through the facades he put up.

JJ cleared his throat. “That’s good then!”

The doors to the back swung open to relieve them of the tension.

Victor emerged. He kept the door propped open with his foot as two strangers came from the back, trailed by Yuuri.

The two strangers were definitely hunters. They were both women, both sharing the demeanor of strong wit as they analyzed Otabek.

“Otabek!” Yuuri waved cheerily. “These hunters are from Sellow. This is Mila.” He gestured to the woman with red hair chopped short. Her eyes sparkled with her smile; there was an excited bounce to her step as she came forward to shake Otabek’s hand.

“And Sara,” Yuuri continued. Sara took Otabek’s hand too, and her smile contrasted the other’s in that it seemed calculating a thousand things already behind the pleasantries being exchanged. She could rival Minako.

“Nice to meet you both,” Otabek responded with a nod.

Minako stepped forward, her demeanor more accommodating with guests and people that weren’t Otabek filling the space. “Sara and Mila are Sellow’s best,” she explained. “They’re going to be helping us until we can get our Sal issue under control.”

“Everyone in Hollow will feel a lot more comfortable knowing we’re bringing in more help,” Victor added. Sara and Mila exchanged glances with a smile, and the impression was set that the two were close, and probably an extremely good fighting duo.

“I thought with our new staff, we should re-calibrate where everyone is posted throughout the week,” Minako said.

As they did this, Otabek took note of where everyone else would be. Not running into the other hunters had deemed easy up until now. He and Yuri often went completely awry from any of the locations the station intended for Otabek to search. And Yuri kept them away from anyone remaining on the streets after nightfall.

But it’d pose more challenging with more hunters. Sara and Mila were asked to protect residential locations at least. Yuri and Otabek avoided these the most.

He looked around at the hunters sitting with him and wondered what each would do with him if they knew.

~

“You seem lively.”

Otabek stepped past Yuri and tried not to smile. ”Is that not a usual for me?”

“As much as it is for me.”

“Actually I have some news. We brought in two more hunters from Sellow. So our locations have changed.”

“Damn. What’s new then?”

Yuri brushed back some of his hair, tucked it behind an ear where it mostly fell back out. Otabek swallowed hard.

“Avoid the neighborhoods near East Square, and the general area Clyden’s is in.”

“Ah, okay.” Yuri looked up to the sky, hair falling back out of his face. He stared at the half-moon, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “What about that building by Oak’s Bar?” Otabek almost nodded and just said yes, sure, anything. But he caught himself.

“Um, that’s pretty close to Clyden’s.”

“Yeah, but I think there’s something there.”

“How much of something?”

“Two of his, I think.” Yuri’s head was level again, and as his eyes focused forward, Otabek could see the embers of his determination flare up. “Close ones, I think.”

It sounded tough. Otabek’s heart squeezed; after cutting down vampires aligned with Sal, Yuri took on some euphoric glow that Otabek reveled in.

Yuri would smile, genuinely smile, on their way to dispose of the body, and he’d reiterate highlights of the fight like an excited child.  

Those nights Yuri stayed glowed with something almost sweet. Ghosts of the human he’d been passed across his face; his eyes would be deep, staring into Otabek’s as he was over and under him, like he was so close to achieving something that night.

“Can we handle them?”

Otabek’s hands already wanted to reach for Yuri. He wanted to cup his face in his hands and kiss Yuri under the moonlight with the air cool and Yuri’s skin not quite as cold against it, with that hunger trailing beneath pulling in toward Otabek.

“Oh yeah. We’ve got this.” He glanced at Otabek, who stopped fawning at Yuri’s elegance in time to meet his eyes. “Hey, if tonight goes well, can we do something different?”

Otabek fought to keep the waver out of his voice that would hint his surprise. “Like what?”

“I have an idea,” Yuri explained, smile going meek. Otabek wanted to die. “But let’s wait until after to talk about it.”

“Why bring it up now?”

Yuri tossed back a grinning glance. “ _Tch_ , is it torture for you to not know what I want to do with you?”

Otabek couldn’t even manage an answer beyond the heating of his face and bite of his lip. They both knew that _yes_ , the more Yuri had Otabek strung by a string over anything about Yuri, the more the fire inside him burned low and steady.  

Yuri was an entire force - a storm, and Otabek was caught in his path and there wasn’t a clear way out. But he didn’t want out.

He cleared his throat. “Okay, but we have to make sure we avoid the other hunters.”

Yuri rolled his shoulders back and determination glinted in his eyes. “Of course.”

Across town there was a building that had once been a church. It’d burned partway down half a year ago, and the work to prepare it fell through financially.

It stood in ominous shadow as they approached it; the roof was caved in at some places, and many of the stained-glass windows had blown in during the fire. Bits of moonlight still caught shards of red and blues in the walls.

“An ironic choice of residence,” Otabek commented.

“Right?”

Otabek’s stomach flipped.

It was unusually hard to focus tonight.

“Door looks opened,” Yuri whispered.

Sure enough, one of its double-doors was stuck out. A sliver of darkness seeped through the opening.

“Ready?” Otabek asked. He pulled a flare from inside his jacket, though he figured it wouldn’t be much help among rows of pews.

“After you.” Yuri’s smile showed teeth that caught in the small light, and Otabek’s chest tightened.

For the first time, Otabek didn’t want to enter the battle; he felt he’d faced death many times - he knew the forms it took. He’d seen it pass through the faces of countless vampires. Watched it transform humans to something other.

Yet still, had he ever entered a battle wondering what awaited him on the other end?

The causality of death seemed to finally sink in after all these years. The chance at another victory against the vampires didn’t stand as greatly against the chance at seeing the stars of another night.

Was that why JJ could freeze in the middle of a vampire encounter?

Was that why Victor and Yuuri took their time?

Otabek seemed to be moving without trying when he pushed open the door to slip into the church.

The foyer smelled like wet carpet and rotten leaves.

Yuri slid past Otabek silently; he was especially eager tonight, his belief that these vampires would lead them closer to Sal energizing him.

Another thought entered the dark with him: perhaps Minako’s distrust of Otabek came because she saw the void inside him – the dead-eyed strive he had, the lack of fear that wasn’t perhaps bravery against evil, but the lack of something he feared missing. Losing.

For a moment, Yuri stepped into a patch off moonlight streaming through the ceiling. Dust animated the tunnel of light, drifting gently above his head, slow like those flecks of snow that’d joined them so many winter nights.

Time moved slower under that moonbeam; Yuri turned back to Otabek, still grinning and on the verge of whispering something. His smile faltered when he saw whatever expression Otabek wore. Their eyes met with an unguarded stare – for a moment, it was a black world with Yuri in a spotlight of soft white.

God, he could have been an angel.

There was a crash from the front of the church, and Yuri whirled around. Then the patch of moonlight was empty.

Otabek crashed through the surface of his thoughts and struck the flare against the wall as he ran into the church. He tossed it down the aisle, the shadows of pews jumping up on both sides.

He held out his stake with a hand gripping both ends and skidded to a stop, turning on his heel to jut the stake out behind him.

A vampire halted its chase on him. She was a woman, her hair long and running down the front of her shoulders. She bared fangs, hissed – for a moment her eyes glanced to the floor behind Otabek.

She darted into the pews and disappeared, eerily, between some of them.

Yuri popped back up on Otabek’s side.

“She’s fast,” he whispered.

“Yuri,” a deep voice echoed through the church.

Otabek resisted freezing at the sound of Yuri’s name. They both turned around. Someone was standing at the head of the church, like the pastor had risen from the dead and chosen now to begin an overdue sermon.

The flare flickered red across his face, and the vampire’s shadow danced manically across the pipes of an organ erupting from the floor.  

The vampire didn’t move. Otabek tried to listen for the sound of the other one prowling.

“Sal isn’t happy about what you’ve been doing.”

“Tch.” Yuri swayed a little, probably about to dart into the pews any moment. Ignoring this fellow was best, Otabek knew, but the familiarity this vampire tried to speak to Yuri with was disconcerting.

“And yes, he _knows_. You’re a real fucking troublemaker, you know?”

“Shut up,” Yuri growled.

“Honestly,” the vampire continued to taunt. He took a few, slow steps closer to the dying flare, and Otabek could see him better. His demeanor spoke confidence, and the level of sanity bred into his composure reminded Otabek of Yuri, and perhaps only a few others of the vampires they’d gone against.

And Sal.

There it was again: that inkling that Otabek was missing part of the story.

“You could’ve been great, Yuri.”

Yuri went left before Otabek could blink. Then the other vampire was gone too; Otabek could almost feel alone.

This happened sometimes; the fight zoomed in on the vampires, and everything spun around Otabek in half-seconds he couldn’t quite catch. Then there’d be a stumble, an error, a break, and he’d slip back into the throes of the fight.

There was a scraping sound from the back of the church, so Otabek turned around and backed to the front, eyes scanning the darkness. The flare had died, but there was a little light coming in through the gashed roof.

He heard Yuri’s familiar yell from one end of the church. Down the row next to him, there was a soft sound. In one easy motion, Otabek fired his gun. There was a crack of wood but no yell.

He pulled out his knife, feeling the pretense of something about to come.

The woman vampire lunged from the shadows under the seats, and Otabek held the knife before him. There was a brief spark of white as it barely scraped her across the arm. Her resulting hiss echoed. She darted into the opposite side of pews.

She was going to try to wear him out playing hide-and-seek. Otabek picked up his pace as he backed to the front of the church until he was out of the way of the seats, and she’d have to fight him head on.

Something moved under the first row on the left. Otabek kept his eyes directed down the aisle, pretending he didn’t see; his finger was heavy against the trigger. He traded his knife for a stake.

She moved carefully, crouched low. Otabek let his eyes focus a little farther to the right to encourage her.

He heard the other vampire say something to Yuri elsewhere in the church, but the words were lost by the time they reached Otabek.

As soon as the woman made to dart somewhere in the open, Otabek let thought fly from his mind and swung his gun left and fired. There was a blast of hot light as it struck, and Otabek rotated the stake between his fingers into position to kill.

She yelled something, stumbled right before him. The bullet sizzled in her abdomen. She locked eyes with him; he felt her try to wrap herself around his mind, but she was weak to him.

He shoved the gun away and started toward her with the stake’s point outward.

Her dodge was awkward and she still half-reached for Otabek as she tossed herself past him. This close, Otabek caught fury locked inside her expression – and that maddening, ravaging hunger. But she missed him, and as she stumbled, she smashed right into the keys of the organ.

The floor of the church practically quaked with the thunder of deep, howling notes that burst forth.

With one foot, Otabek launched forward.

The vampire lost her ferocity as the sound reverberated through the wide walls of the church. Her eyes went wide, and her body rigid, the sound deep and jarring.

Otabek raised the stake.

The shadow of death passed between them; it touched down on her as the stake plunged into her chest. The organ boomed out again, a grim orchestral backdrop to her scream and the sounds of cracking bone and bursting sparks.  

Her face lost the last of its horror as she slid from the keys and thumped to the ground.

Otabek blinked, the organ still screaming in his ears.

It wasn’t over yet, though. He pulled another stake from the inside of his jacket and turned to face the church again.

Yuri jumped into the aisle, shooting a glance back to Otabek before disappearing into another pew. The other vampire swept across the aisle in a blur, taking the bait for the chase.

So Yuri was going to tie their battle together now that one was out of the way. Otabek stepped forward, eyes straining to focus down some of the pews.

Yuri jumped back into the aisle, very close to Otabek now, and Otabek closed the distance.

The sound of the doors opening emanated from the foyer as if a procession of people were about to enter. For a moment Otabek thought the vampire had made his escape.

Then there was motion to his right, and Yuri moved to Otabek’s other side to give him space.

Otabek pulled the gun out to shoot, new stake still clutched in his left hand.

Before he fired, the movement was gone.

“What was that?” Otabek asked Yuri. They took a step back out of the aisle.

Yuri didn’t answer, and there were too many sounds circulating the church for Otabek to keep up with. Steps, more steps than there should be, unless they were about to be ambushed by more.

Otabek risked a glance at Yuri, and his heart dropped at the fear in his eyes as he stared toward the front of the church, absolutely motionless.

Otabek’s mind jumped to so many things: more vampires, Sal himself. But he didn’t expect to hear what he did:

“Otabek?”

The world got sucked into the sound of his name; it reverberated down the empty pews and hit him in waves of dread.

Yuuri stood in the splash of moonlight near the entrance. His eyes took in the scene, and Otabek saw the moment his eyes hit Yuri.

Victor stepped from the shadows and fired his gun to Otabek’s right, where he thought he’d seen the vampire moments ago. Glass shattered as the vampire knocked through the remaining shards along a window and fled into the night.

“Damn,” Victor said, and froze when he took in the rest of the scene.

“Wait,” Otabek stepped forward. His hand began to lift his gun, and he was immediately horrified; he brought it back down, but not before seeing Yuuri’s eyes also catch the movement.

Yuuri’s mouth hung open, eyes flicking back to Yuri, a train of wordless moments spiraling from him.

Otabek’s mind spun through his choices. They’d discussed what to do if other hunters found them together. Yuri would flee, Otabek would try not to get executed.

Why hadn’t they planned beyond that? Why hadn’t they predicted that in the moment, the reality of their union would finally catch up to them, dragging them out into rough waters after so long pretending the ocean wasn’t a dangerous thing.

It was the night finally ensnaring Otabek and telling him he was playing a dangerous game.

“What is that?” Victor asked. The words settled so wrong, rippling the air with their sour effect. Yuri tensed, his fists clenched and he stooped lower. Otabek wanted him to run, to _get out!_

“That’s the one.”

JJ was suddenly there next to Yuuri. He’d been unshackled from his hesitance. Unfortunately, Yuuri and Victor were good trainers like that.

He lifted his gun; the crack hit the walls of the church. It seemed like a hundred years later when Otabek yelled, “No!”

After the flash of white, the yell, the saunter backwards with the force.

Yuri bent forward and clutched his side. Otabek’s stake clattered to the ground.

Yuri’s head tilted up to lock onto JJ. His teeth ground through pain, and his eyes seemed to sheen over with darkness. He growled low, teeth bared to show fangs. Otabek’s heart nearly stopped.

Everyone moved along different timelines; Otabek reached for Yuri and missed. Yuuri seemed about to grab JJ, and Victor reached for Yuuri to stop him.

But JJ was gone, and so was Yuri.

There was another bullet fired. JJ was in the back left corner. Otabek couldn’t tell, but he prayed it hadn’t hit Yuri again, and he ran down the aisle despite all sense. Yuuri began extending his arms as if to try to start some serious conversation to reason things out, but Otabek darted left down a row as he saw JJ lift his stake.

Otabek couldn’t see Yuri yet. His stomach felt leaden as he ran, dragging down his speed. The world was laden in the unreality of a dream.

There was a figure before JJ that must have been Yuri, but it was gone in another second, and JJ was striking empty air. Then he went down, feet dragged out from under him.

Oh God, either one of them killing each other would be a disaster.

Yuuri yelled something unintelligible. He was pushing Victor back, yelling more and more, his voice bouncing around the walls and blending into the scuffle.

Finally, Otabek bounded out into the aisle between the left pews and the church wall.

JJ’s gun slid across the ground as Yuri tore it from his grasp. The bullet in Yuri hadn’t been healed out yet, for the silver still glowed. It was deceivingly innocent, like a pretty gem stuck in his skin.

It’d hit him on his left side, and his left arm trembled as he held JJ against the ground. JJ yelled for him to get off, calling Yuri _creature_. Instead of paying the slur any justice, Yuri kicked off him.

JJ scrambled up into a sitting position, eyes passing to the gun before he started reaching for the stake that’d been knocked from his hands.

The window closest to them had been busted through. Yuri pulled himself onto its ledge. Otabek felt his breath coming back to him; Yuri was going to make it out.

When Yuri threw a look back to Otabek, his eyes communicated nothing. No future move, no next plan, just nothing. It was a look of acknowledgement only.

It wasn’t enough.

He stole out into the night.

“Shit,” JJ groaned, getting to his feet. “Fucking shit, I can’t believe it touched me-“

“ _Stop_.”

To his surprise, JJ actually did, expression blank. Yuuri had managed to quiet Victor, and now they all stood to stare at Otabek.

The night had unwound all his secrets so easily. A tug of a single thread just kept unravelling everything they’d sewn together. Their partnership really had been so fragile this entire time.

“Otabek, why?” Yuuri asked.

His voice stumbled into the silence so out-of-place. The phantoms of chaos still loomed too heavy and near.

He saw Yuri get shot again in his head. The memory made the heaviness come back into this stomach. Yuri had still put up a fight, but he got hurt. He’d heal, but he was out there now and wounded, with another vampire nearby with unfinished business.

“I’d be willing to explain,” he tried, heart hitting hard. There wasn’t time for this, but Otabek needed to be able to survive whatever would come next. Cooperation was all he had.

Maybe their plan should have always consisted of Otabek running away too. The chances of anyone listening to him suddenly seemed slim as they still gaped.

“You were working with it,” JJ whispered.

Otabek didn’t answer, much less look at JJ.

“… Why?” JJ persisted, and Otabek hated how hurt he actually sounded.

“You better come with us,” Victor spoke up. Otabek tried not to notice one of his hands disappearing under his coat.

Otabek held up his hands. “I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no!! 
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon/) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)  
> come visit me, we can cry about why characters can never just get to be happy


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //whispers// iloveyouall

“Why wasn’t your first inclination to ever just come tell us this? You could have pretended you were making an alliance, we could have cornered it and continued the work –“

These questions went back and forth, and Otabek was resorting to staring past them out the window. The moon was moving easily across the sky, dragging the shadows along.

No answer he gave was a good enough explanation.

Everyone wanted a cookie-cutter answer to his actions. He couldn’t explain the way he felt control at first and how gradually the ground had shifted underfoot. That despite turning a blind eye to what Yuri killed, they were saving hundreds more. He couldn’t describe their duet in a fight and how they moved seamlessly around one another – how that level of understanding between two people could intoxicate you.

And there was a lot more he couldn’t speak of.

JJ sat in the corner of the station, slumped against the wall, eyes staring at the same floorboard for minutes now.

Otabek leaned against Minako’s desk, backed up as far as he could from Victor and Minako practically leaning over him in interrogation.

Yuuri stood to the side. He hadn’t spoken up much yet, eyes deep and thoughtful. Otabek wondered if perhaps he was so disgusted that he was beyond words.

Minako shook her head. “I always knew there was something wrong with you.”

Otabek scoffed, happy to have that topic introduced. “Why exactly have you always assumed that?”

Her eyes narrowed further. “Your strive has always been without passion. I never understood why you wanted to be a hunter. And you’ve always been so alone. From what I’ve learned, someone so lonely for so long often fills the hole in them in the worst ways.”

Otabek gripped the ledge of her desk. Her words hit him in odd places, like they were pieces to the puzzle that made him up, but she was plugging them into the wrong spaces. Her words were meant to bite, but they didn’t land.

These people didn’t understand him. Perhaps that was partially his fault, the part Minako was aiming for that she wasn’t wrong about. He never really got close to anyone here. Yuuri was the one he was closest to, but right now he couldn’t gauge at all what he thought of him.

But he hadn’t ever felt lonely until recently. Not until he had someone to miss.

“Your mission may have had good-intentions, but we can’t trust you, Otabek. You must see that. Even if we have a common goal, we can’t trust you anymore. You’re a threat. That… vampire is a threat and will always be.”

Victor added, “I’m concerned about the way you defend that vampire, mostly.”

Minako jumped forward at those words, lit by some new fire. Otabek was helpless except to accept her getting close to him, her hand extended. “Give me your jacket.”

That had him drawing a blank. “What?”

Her hand extended further. “Give it to me.”

“Wait.” Yuuri stepped forward, breaking into the argument at last. JJ had moved his head now to watch, obviously curious about Minako’s demand.

“What, Yuuri?” Minako huffed.

“Can I talk to Otabek alone?”

Victor sighed and shook his head. “Yuuri, this isn’t the time.”

They locked eyes. Neither said anything, but after some time, Victor stepped back, hands up in defeat.

Otabek felt sympathy for their wordless communication, and a piece of understanding slotted into place.

He understood why Yuuri and Victor insisted on hunting together. Maybe someone else _did_ know what that synchronism felt like.

He never thought he’d compare himself to those two before.

Otabek realized suddenly why Minako had demanded he take his jacket off, and he resisted the urge to pull it around himself tighter so that they may never pry into the scars along his arms.

They’d untangled his lies that fast already.

“Will you talk to me alone, Otabek?”

Otabek was too stunned by his own thoughts to manage more than a yes.

“Minako?” Yuuri asked.

She crossed her arms, but her fondness of Yuuri wasn’t up for a fight. “You two go to the back room, and you better hurry.”

~

“Otabek, take off your jacket,” Yuuri said when they were alone.

“I could just tell you the answer is yes.”

Yuuri failed to hide his wince.

“Okay,” he said calmly. Otabek could appreciate the attempt to sound neutral. “Okay.”

“Why did you want to speak with me alone?”

The back room was stuffed with cabinets and boxes. It was oddly reminiscent of the church. Yuuri stood among it all, letting his eyes pass over the mess. He didn’t speak immediately, gathering his thoughts as if he could pull them from the clutter before them.

Yuuri took a breath.

“It’s weird that I think I knew a long time ago. I denied it, but I thought maybe you were protecting the vampire that attacked you… I had no idea why you would, though.”

Otabek didn’t speak. It felt insulting to hear that someone had suspected him early-on and said nothing. At the same time, he felt hope – if Yuuri had already given thought to how he’d handle this situation, his conscience might be clearer.

He continued. “You hid him well. But then the window was open in your room that one night, your success as a hunter increased almost overnight, all starting with that encounter.” Yuuri shook his head.

“But when I saw him tonight…” Yuuri smiled faintly. “What’s his name again?”

Otabek never told them in the first place.

“Yuri.”

Yuuri huffed the faintest laugh. “I remember that.”

Otabek balked. “What?”

“Ah, yeah. Yuri Plisetsky.” The full name felt so strange on his ears.

Yuuri turned to finally stare Otabek in the eyes, and there was a sadness in them Otabek hadn’t been prepared to see.

“I was the hunter who didn’t get to the scene in time. I was there when Sal turned him.”

Still, nothing. “… _What?”_

Yuuri’s forehead creased. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Wait, he didn’t tell you?”

“Sal turned Yuri?”

“You thought his own motive was fear of Sal’s presence? This is – this is obviously revenge, Otabek. He didn’t tell you?”

Otabek shook his head, this new information slotting into place so easily yet so forcefully, knocking apart everything.

“Yuri doesn’t – said he doesn’t remember being human.”

Yuuri spoke his next words carefully. “I’m – I’m sorry, Otabek. I think that… I don’t know what’s happened between you two, but I think he hasn’t been completely honest. Because…”

“What?”

“I know he recognized me tonight.”

Otabek averted his eyes to the drawn curtains of the one window in the room. Yuuri’s worrying gaze was too prying, too careful, and this overflow of information was hard to process under his quiet scrutiny.

Muffled voices still carried beyond the door.

He needed to get out of here fast and think and _find Yuri..._

“Why did you bring me back here?”

“Because we’re going to go out there, and I’m going to tell everyone we will work with you and Yuri.”

Otabek stiffened, but resisted looking at Yuuri quite yet. This wasn’t making sense. God, nothing was making sense.

“You think you can convince them?”

“Minako loves me. She will trust my judgment. Victor will trust my judgement. And I’ve decided we can trust you. Will Yuri trust us, though?”

Otabek exhaled, heavy and suddenly very tired, and let his eyes move back to Yuuri.

“He wants to kill Sal more than anything. I have a clearer picture as to why now, and I think he’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Okay then,” Yuuri nodded, the decision settling into him. “That’s it, then. But no more lies, okay?”

“Yes. But Yuuri,” Otabek hesitated, not wanting to dash this chance by wrong words. “Why do you want to help him? Even if you were there when he was-“ Otabek struggled for words.

“He looked at me,” Yuuri interrupted in a rush of his own words that tried to conceal a tremble in his voice. The sudden turn of emotions was dizzying for Otabek to watch under the whirl of his own thoughts.

Yuuri took a shaky breath and stared at the ceiling. Otabek thought he might have tears brimming his eyes.

“Sal let go of him for a moment. He opened his eyes and saw me, and I know he saw his grandfather dead beneath him. I couldn’t save either of them. I’ve never forgotten.”

Silence rang. Otabek’s insides felt dark and sick.

He tried to imagine the scene Yuuri was describing - the Yuri from long ago coming-to after it was already too late. Seeing his end, and the end of someone he loved.

What happened next? Did he retain his consciousness through it all? How did he remember his human life? There were too many questions; they all only bogged him down more.

“And,” Yuuri continued, “Minako doesn’t know anything about Phichit, and Sara and Mila won’t talk. I’m worried but I’m stuck here. I’m just tired of following the same rules.”

Then he inhaled sharply through his nose and turned to the door.

“Do you have anything else to tell me before we face the others?”

“I don’t. Just… thanks for trusting me, Yuuri. And for trusting Yuri.”

Yuuri smiled briefly and went to the door, but stopped with his hand on the knob.

“There’s one more thing, actually,” he glanced back partway. “About why I trust you.”

“Yeah?”

“If it were Victor getting hurt like that back there in the church, I would’ve worn the same expression you did.”

~

The hit of cool air leaving the station was a goddamn blessing.

Yuuri’s ability to crack a person open and see the mess of their insides – all with the most gracious, blushing smile – was only one trial.

The pressing suspicions of Minako even after Yuuri swore their union with Yuri would be safe, the fretful glances Victor shot between Otabek and Yuuri throughout the rest of the meeting, and JJ’s pouting gaze that resumed the moment Otabek was in the room again, was a battle.

Otabek knew he’d signed himself away to this. He’d known from the moment he invited Yuri into his home.

Everyone was tired and still shocked; the station was swampy and disgruntled by the time he was let go despite the prospect of their new set of agreements.

Otabek was to tell Yuri that the hunters would work with him, would not hurt him before or after the battle with Sal, as long as he didn’t hurt any one of them. Minako had also mentioned Yuri’s staying in town post-Sal might not be recommended, but Otabek figured it was best to tackle one battle at a time. The idea of a world post-Sal was clouded in too many questions to begin much thinking.

The sun was breaking over the mountains.

The heaviness in Otabek’s stomach re-announced itself for the hundredth time. Was Yuri okay? Had he healed in time? Made it somewhere safe?

Sal turned Yuri.

Why didn’t Yuri tell him this?

Otabek stared hard at the ground passing underfoot, a heat building in his chest. He hated the thoughts that crawled into his brain like ants, hundreds of fleeting things that together made an image that had him biting into his lip and cringing. Sal, luring Yuri in with his eyes; Sal, holding Yuri’s body with rough hands feigning safety.

Those scars on Yuri’s neck…

It was strange to imagine Yuri human. Otabek hadn’t really thought about the Yuri before the vampire - that he’d likely been someone living right here in Hollow, someone Otabek was meant to protect. Just another person who’d been failed.

Then Yuuri’s eyes were in his mind, sad and reminiscent for the death he’d only nearly prevented.

And again: did Yuri actually remember _everything_?

Mrs. Nishigori was outside when Otabek arrived home. She was kneeling in front of the daphne bushes, gingerly holding the new buds between her fingers.

“Oh, good morning, Otabek.” She smiled as he walked by.

“Morning,” he said.

“Almost springtime already,” she sighed. She sat back, wiping her hands on her pants. “Time’s one step ahead.”

Otabek nodded. She maybe didn’t see, but then he was inside anyway.

He’d sleep, he’d plan out what he was going to tell Yuri, and he’d wait (and hope) for him to come back tonight.

~

He didn’t.

This wasn’t entirely unusual.

Yuri might fear that Otabek didn’t want to see him again, or that other hunters would be waiting to kill Yuri now that they knew.

But Otabek had his window open. There was no one else around.

Otabek could chalk it up to a million reasons, but as the clock rolled around to three, and his legs grew weary of pacing, he felt on the verge of tipping into insanity.

There was also another possibility.

It'd been niggling in the corner of his mind, and the further Otabek let it seep into the forefront of possibilities, the more he felt a blade cut slowly into his heart.

Yuri maybe didn't want to see Otabek.

Perhaps the arrival of other hunters reminded Yuri of what Otabek was, and what Otabek was meant to do.

Maybe Otabek hadn't tried hard enough to break things up before they'd unraveled so much, and Yuri thought he’d chosen the hunters’ side.

Otabek was shaken out of fretting when someone knocked at the door. He stared briefly at his window, curtains moving gently, before going to answer it. For a ridiculous moment, he thought maybe Yuri was humoring him by coming in normally.

He didn't really believe this was the case, but disappointment still draped heavy on his heart as he opened the door to Victor's straight expression.

"Uh, hi," Otabek said, not honestly sure what this visit was about.

Victor glanced over Otabek's arm that still held the door. "Otabek, I thought you'd want to know we had Mila and Sara search the church from last night. It was empty."

Oh, all right. "Thanks," he said. That was the first moment he felt a sliver of actual gratitude for his teammates knowing about Yuri. Right now they'd at least help Otabek find him. To whatever extent he was actually valuable.

Victor's eyes pulled back from the apartment interior, obviously not finding the vampire in question. His stare, however, was yielded. "I saw your window was open," he hinted.

"He hasn't come yet," Otabek stated.

"Ah." Victor glanced into the apartment again.

"Do you want to come in?" Otabek tried, praying that Victor wouldn’t accept.

"No," he was quick to answer. "Keep us updated, Otabek."

He turned back down the hall.

~

He attempted fitful sleep at sunrise, but the pit in his stomach kept him awake. The idea of Yuri cutting ties with him stuck to his mind like disease.

The sun laying out across the world and only served as a reminder that there were a near infinite number of places for Yuri to hide here.

Yet during the night he’d still felt like Yuri would appear at any moment. And he would’ve tried searching for him anyway if it didn’t seem better that he wait in one place.

Otabek felt like he knew him well enough that if he did try to look, he’d find him - but then he remembered he hadn’t even known Yuri was turned by the vampire they’d spent months hunting together.

He would’ve asked Yuri so many things about his life if he’d known. He wanted to know all of it, every detail that made him who he was down to what brought him to that abandoned building that one night.

Otabek wished he’d not let the strange details that accompanied Yuri fade to the back of his mind - the way he seemed one step ahead of every vampire, the way he answered certain questions with a faraway gaze.

Otabek had noticed these moments, treasured them even, but rarely questioned them. What if he had? Would Yuri have eventually told him the truth?

Though of course Yuri choosing to not share these things with Otabek was his choice. If he’d wanted to, he would have.

And this was silly, because their alliance only stretched as far as Sal’s life.

Yuri owed him nothing.

Mrs. Nishigori was outside again when Otabek left, as if she’d never left. She paid him only a sunny grin before one of her children yelled for her attention about an especially large bud on the daphne.  

He picked up silver bullets and stakes from Mr. Clyden’s, not looking the man in the eyes.

Otabek wished to walk through the town slowly to drive the time away, but there was too much anxiety driven behind each of his steps.

Minako and Victor were the only ones at the station when he arrived. They both looked at him as he swung the door open, and Otabek had the prickly sense he was walking into a space where he was the conversation topic moments ago.

“He didn’t see me last night,” Otabek said. “I’ll try again tonight.”

Minako sat back in her chair, Victor stared at the ground. Otabek really wished Yuuri was the one here for him to interact with.

"Are you sure he's not just avoiding you?" Minako asked.

Otabek kept his chin up. “I don’t know yet.” He hated admitting that out loud, and it cut him a little deeper to do so.

“We don’t have a lot of time to waste.” Minako lifted from her chair, grabbing a pad of paper and pen. Her shoes clacked sharply as she walked around the desk. “Start making notes on anything Yuri said about Sal that might be important.”

She let go as soon as Otabek had the items in his hands.

“If he doesn’t come tonight, then we head out the next no matter what.”

~

Yuri still didn’t show.

Would he really, truly give up on this? On him? Otabek didn’t know.

But why else would he just not come back?

The possibility settling in further made him angry, made his face hot, his stomach sway. They’d been through too much to just give up. Yuri would understand that, surely. He could pretend for a while that simply ending things worked, but his own thoughts and conscience would catch up to him.

And also, Otabek would find him. One day. He’d search until they settled what they’d started – whatever settling things meant. That still needed to be decided between them both.

Otabek still hoped in the dwindling minutes of the night that Yuri would swing through the window with a smartass comment about being late. He’d be falsely nonchalant about the other night, but he’d be here and he’d be safe.

However, sunlight fell over the town with finality as the day drew up over the mountains. The shadows of buildings stretched down the streets toward Otabek’s windows, final reaches of the night for his eyes to search.

He pulled back from his window as disappointment settled inside him. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to think.

This was it, wasn’t it? Minako didn’t want to wait around for Yuri anymore. Otabek didn’t know where to search for him during the day. He should have been out doing that these few nights, but it had just been far more likely Yuri would come to him. He’d always come to him.

The disappointment tangled with other feelings; some, Otabek could digest. Frustration, anger.

He was mad at this situation, mad at Yuri, mad at himself. He clenched his teeth, another hand roughly stroking back through his own hair as if that would clear the cloud of anger beating in his thoughts.

There was something else though, too. An emotion that slipped under the others and raised them up until the pressure against his ribs ached. He felt it against his heart, crushing around his lungs.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He took another step back from the window, unsure of what to do with himself. Surely sleep was out of the question, yet part of him wanted nothing more than to sleep. To sleep not just today away, but all future days, until there was a clear answer for him, a direction to take. Or Yuri.

Otabek thought he’d been prepared to take this hit.

He tried to take a deep breath but that horrible pressure squeezed back. Nothing like the relief of promised life Yuri had once described.

The world seemed to fade out the more people emptied onto the streets, the more sunny warmth leaked into his room – it couldn’t reach him. He was immune to the waking life.

All the dramatic shit before about feeling dead seemed so silly. Because _this_ \- this was being finally, truly fucking dead.

And he was… so sad. So sad that Yuri wasn’t coming back.

His idealizations that he’d track Yuri down evaporated. None of that would matter if Yuri didn’t want to see him _now._ Why would he want to see him ever if not NOW?

Otabek sat on his bed with fists clenched. He bent over, eyes frozen to the floorboards, and held his forehead up by his fists. What the fuck was he going to do now?

How did he jump back into a normal life? Especially now that, to some extent or other, anyone that he could have remotely described as a friend either hated him or was disgusted by him.

His position made breathing only hurt worse, so he pulled his jacket off, let it crumple to the floor, and laid down. If he laid there long enough he’d have to sleep eventually, right? His body would exhaust _eventually_.

Because there was nothing else he could do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> stay well!!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> small tw that non-sexual physical abuse is implied in this chapter <3 be safe and i love you all!

When Otabek woke up, it was three in the afternoon.

His room smelled of spring thanks to him leaving the window open for so long.

People were loud on the streets below. Their voices sifted past and away like river currents. New ones rose up, were carried out. Otabek laid there on his bed like on a bank, motionless and stuck in the mud.

He’d slept without restlessness somehow, though he felt sick to his stomach with memories he couldn't quite grasp. He must have dreamed some upsetting things. He was glad to have forgotten them.

Strangely, he wasn't hungry, though his stomach was empty. Trying to eat was a step in the direction of something akin to living, so Otabek heaved himself from his bed.

He shut his window, cutting off the outside voices with a thud.

He stepped from his room and his heart stopped upon seeing someone sitting at his table - his mind caught up before the rest of him did, and even then he was still confused. Maybe disappointed too, because it wasn’t who he wanted it to be.

Yuuri was sitting over a packet of papers. "Otabek," he acknowledged, nudging his glasses into place and sitting back. "Sorry for just coming in."

"Why are you here? How?"

"Um, you didn't answer when I knocked, but your window was open so I was worried. Then I realized you'd left the door unlocked."

"So you came in?"

Yuuri twirled a pen between his fingers. "Sorry, it was wrong still. I just got worried. And then I saw you asleep and guessed... well, he didn't come last night?"

The pen stilled in his hand.

Otabek’s shoulders dropped.

"No, he didn't." he came into the kitchen and dropped into a chair across from Yuuri, food forgotten. "He didn't."

With pursed lips, Yuuri set the pen carefully onto the paper, then brought his hands onto his lap under the table.

“Hmm," he hummed, and Otabek was stuck somewhere between wanting to be irritated Yuuri was here and being grateful he wasn't alone.

"So you two were definitely... close, right?"

He didn't like that question, and he didn't know why Yuuri was asking it now.

Though Otabek remembered Yuuri’s unsettling understanding from days before and knew the appropriate answer he sought.

"Yes."

"Okay," Yuuri continued slowly. "Then do you think he'd actually never want to see you again?"

Otabek’s eyes fell to the table. Someone down the hall shut a door loudly.

"I don't know, really."

Yuuri fidgeted, sat forward, brought his hands to fold over his papers. "Really think though. What was the last thing you two did together before that fight?"

The interrogatory feel of their conversation pressed on Otabek in all the wrong places, and he recoiled from the question. "What’s the point of these questions?"

"Just think, what do you remember?"

Otabek wanted to ignore the prodding, and he wanted to push Yuuri out of his apartment, deciding to be alone after all.

He didn't want someone poking at and dissecting all the parts of his life that sat in corners of his mind, where it was dark and cool. Yuuri wanted to drag them out into the open, to slide them into the center of the floor and look into them and begin to understand. Or at least, he wanted to push Otabek into doing this.

But thoughts of Yuri weren't exactly easy to hold back, and their last day poured out and covered him:

Yuri’s faraway eyes as he confided in Otabek how he felt inside, his hair in moonlight, the way intensity could drain from his muscles and he looked soft and angelic.

Words of Yuri’s slammed into him with a thud of his heart. They'd almost been dissolved into the chaos of the nights before.

_"Let's do something different tonight."_

What had that been?

Their worlds were left open, woven loosely together and on the verge of being something, but still so undone. Yuri was stubborn. He wouldn't leave tasks incomplete and worlds half put together. He’d want things either whole or severed.

Right?

The idea was the spark to a match.

"You’re right," Otabek said, eyes meeting Yuuri’s again.

Yuuri fell back in his seat some, clearly surprised that Otabek switched positions so fast. "I am?"

"Yes. He wouldn't just cut ties."

"Oh, okay. Then... what are you thinking?"

Otabek was thinking - he was thinking a lot. Along with Yuri’s memory came the rest of the night. That one vampire had teased him so knowingly, and he'd said Sal wasn't happy with Yuuri.

That could've meant a hundred useless things, and Otabek would have assumed this to be empty taunting.

Combined with new information Otabek now had, that vampire's behavior was odder.

Sal knew Yuri, Yuri knew Sal.

They’d known each other a long time. Sal was the reason Yuri was a vampire. Presumably Sal had, at one point, wanted Yuri for what he does.

"Sal knows," Otabek jumped up so fast his chair knocked back. Yuuri jumped in his own seat. "Sal knows Yuri is a threat."

"Wait-"

"He has to have Yuri."

"Otabek, hold on."

"He definitely has Yuri," Otabek finalized, blood finally reaching his muscles after hours of feeling frozen. He shook his shoulders out. He needed to go now and fucking kill Sal.

"Don’t jump to conclusions yet, Otabek." Yuuri was standing up, hands practically twitching to reach out in defense.

"What if he's already hurt him?" Otabek asked, ignoring Yuuri flinch at the idea. The words made himself feel hollow, but he continued. "I have to figure out where Sal is. Now."

"Come to the station with me," Yuuri offered. "Let’s re-group, and you can tell us everything you know about where Sal might be."

"God, do you think he's already taken him? Again?" Otabek looked to Yuuri’s eyes for his answer.

He didn't find one, but he saw his response: a momentary sadness flickering in his eyes, a deep well of emotion opening up before a lid was slammed back on.

"I think we still have time," Yuuri answered at last. A shaking smile managed itself on his face. "I’ll wait for you outside."

~

“Well, your notes are just all the places you know he isn’t,” Minako said. She squinted at the papers over her glasses. “You two certainly have been... thorough. But do you have anything else?”

Otabek was pacing, thinking along everything Yuri had ever said about Sal.

“Last we really discussed it, Yuri wanted to stop assuming Sal was in some big secret place.”

“Yeah?” Victor was thoughtful. “Like an opposite-of-what-you’d-expect sort of thing?”

“Yes, because…” Otabek tried to remember more of Yuri’s words. “I don’t know. He always mentioned that Sal was smart, clever, sneaky. That sort of thing.”

“Yuri is, right?” Yuuri asked. “Where does he go during the day?”

“He never told me.”

Otabek stopped and stared out the window at the small portion of town they could see from their street. He looked for anything that would trigger his memory or spark an idea.

Clouds were beginning to roll in from the mountains.

“Makes sense,” Yuuri continued. “Well, you know him. Where do you think he’d go?”

“Would Yuri take the kind of risks someone like Sal would take?” Otabek asked aloud. He didn’t know Sal beyond the one interaction with him and the ideas Yuri put in his head. Though a vampire willing to fake their own death seemed pretty risky.

“Let’s not use Yuri for comparison then,” Minako said.

They all thought in silence a little longer. Or the others might have suggested ideas among themselves, Otabek wasn’t sure. His mind was too busy racing against the sun.

Thunder came from the clouds that still hadn’t touched their town yet.

If Yuri was out there somewhere, unable to get away from Sal -

His mind flashed to the vampire he and JJ had encountered the other night. The one that was victim to another of its kind - he saw its mangled body in his head and… he had to stop thinking. He pushed it away, far away, shoved it deep into a crevice for dark fears in his mind. There was still hope.

At one point Sara and Mila arrived for shift assignments from Minako, who quickly sent them on their way. The group hadn’t informed the Sellow hunters of what was happening for fear of ostracization. Minako informed them to keep watch for a flare though, just in case.

The day wound down further. Otabek felt dizzy.

“Drink water,” Yuuri demanded, shoving a glass in the line of Otabek’s pacing steps.   

Without thought, Otabek took it - each swallow felt heavy and nauseating, but the motivation to stay alive and healthy had never hit him so hard.

“Should we just try to go look everywhere?” JJ, who’d been sitting drearily in his corner, suggested.

It was already taking everything Otabek had to not tear into the streets and blindly search. This suggestion wasn’t helpful for resisting that.

“That’s all we’ve ever done for Sal,” Victor said.

“I know,” JJ huffed. “But this isn’t going anywhere. Sal is smart and we’ve searched every place in town and he’s remained totally fucking elusive. Blah blah, same story.” He turned to Otabek. “We talked about this, man. What the fuck is with this place? You couldn’t even find Sal with another vampire tracking him down. Don’t they have… super senses and shit?”

Otabek stared at him blankly for a long moment.

His eyes nearly watered with shock.

“That’s it,” he muttered, barely audible. He leaned into the wall for support, practically shaking. Never in his life had he felt so overcome with emotion and horror.

“Otabek?” Yuuri came forward, hands extended. He felt the other’s eyes on him.

The words were too much and too many. Otabek had to force himself to stay coherent and calm to communicate the realization.

“The daphne,” he whispered.

The daphne.

~

The sun pulled out of the sky and the rain of their first spring storm began as they burst into the ground floor of Otabek’s apartment.

Mrs. Nishigori was gathering her belongings to leave for home. Mr. Nishigori was by her side, their three kids at their feet.

She smiled at Otabek, but immediately faltered when the others poured into the space.

“Oh, no,” she whispered.

Mr. Nishigori looked between them all sternly, forehead creasing as he snatched up a kid about to run past him.

The girls were excitedly giggling about the presence of all the hunters, and he shushed them.

“Yuuko,” Yuuri said. “Is there a basement here?”

Her voice trembled, but she answered without hesitance, pointing beyond the stairs. “I haven’t been down there in months. It’s a mess.”

The group moved past the staircase and sure enough, there was a door at its side.

“It spans the whole square-footage underneath,” she explained. “What’s - what’s going on? Is someone hurt?”

Yuuri whirled around to take her by the shoulders. He whispered so that her still chattering children couldn’t hear.

“Go home with your family. Everything is okay, I promise. But don’t come back until sunrise. Please.”

Otabek needed down there now. His heart thumped so strongly that it choked him.

Mrs. Nishigori nodded. They waited the painfully long few seconds it took the family to clear the building to move.

As soon as the door was open, a smell so sweet it was almost rancid floated out. Daphne. Lots and lots of daphne.

Otabek took the lead as they clambered down the stairs. He went in the dark and was about to grab a flare, but someone behind him found a light switch, because dim lights flickered on with sparks and pops.

The basement was filled with covered furniture and stacks of boxes. It was a large room, with what must have been a smaller one in the back, because there was a door at the far end.

The ceiling was lined with cobwebs and piping, and it smelled of must that mixed nauseatingly into the daphne.

Someone in their group gasped.

Otabek would have too, maybe, if there was any room left in his body for shock.

The place was littered with flowers.

Dead ones, dried and crumbling; new ones only now starting to wilt. They were all over the floor, they lined edges of boxes, they were tossed like drapery across sheets over furniture.

The entire building, inside and out, had been cloaked in the thick scent of daphne.

All this time - or who knew how long, really.

Otabek saw red.

Something moved on his right between stacks of boxes, and Otabek brought up his gun.

He focused on a point in front of him where he could still let his peripheral be aware of the darkness cloaking either side of him.

When it launched, Otabek had a change of mind. He was finding Yuri first.

Instead of shooting, he swept out of the way. The vampire missed the tail of his jacket, and Otabek charged into the room.

JJ yelled, “Hey!” and Otabek heard him hit the vampire with something.

The voices of the others scrambled outward, and Otabek wondered how many vampires were hiding in this place.

One burst from a bookcase into his path, but it didn’t stop, crossing the empty space in front of him and forcing him to stop. He stalled only a second, but Yuuri yelled from afar, “Otabek! Behind you!”

Otabek swung the barrel of his gun back as he turned. An icy, strong grip crushed around his wrist, and he winced at the pain.

"Nice to see you again," a familiar voice curled. For a second, Otabek glared into the eyes of the vampire that had escaped from the church. His eyes were dark, hollow, hungry - and lulling. Otabek felt him _try_ their seduction. But Otabek was so beyond that now.

The vampire was caught off guard as Otabek pushed his weight into him, managing to twist his gun around and smash him into the bookcase with it shoved into his stomach.

Otabek fired.

He didn’t stop to watch him fold in on himself, nor did he bother staking him. The others could handle this.

Otabek glanced back just to make sure. There were several vampires visible around Minako, Yuuri, Victor, and JJ, and Otabek was going to decide they could hold their own no matter what, but Yuuri caught his glance and yelled, “Otabek! Go!” between swipes with his knife at a vampire.

Otabek took off toward the door at the end of the basement.

His feet thud under him. Running felt like the slowest action in the world.

He twisted the knob hard and wrenched open the door. It’d settled low onto its hinges and dragged across the floor with a stony whine.

The room inside was black. The dim lights in the main basement weren’t enough to reach.

It was also soundless. His heart could have burst.

He reached for a flare, but his hand clenched around nothing. His heart plummeted. He’d forgotten to bring any?

But there had to be a light switch for a whole separate room.

Otabek wanted to call for Yuri, but his voice got wrangled up in his throat. All he'd wanted was to have Yuri back, but now that he was here before a dark room that maybe held him, he was suddenly terrified. Terrified of what he'd find in here. What it'd mean if Yuri _was_ here. If Yuri was here alive, dead, or changed.

And if Yuri wasn't here...

It only took a moment of reckless patting to find the light switch, and he flicked it on.

A bulb flickered. Dust drifted like fog in this room. It was a cold cellar, with shelves of jars of pickled and stored fruits and vegetables.

There was some stray furniture pieces shoved at the edges of the room, and an armory that reached the ceiling.

He looked to the floor.

He breathed heavy, fast, but air only seemed to fill half his lungs, emotion compressing the space in his body. Because there he was. Yuri was sitting on the floor against the wall. His head was forward, and his arms were pulled behind him. Rope was coiled aggressively around his torso and arms.

"Yuri," Otabek breathed.

For a dark moment he assumed the worst, even though the worst wasn’t possible, and then Yuri’s head moved.

"Yuri!" Otabek prompted again, feet frozen for some reason.

Yuri’s head lifted fully then, hair seeming darker in the poor light. It fell over heavy eyelids struggling to open. "Wha-" he managed, throat thick.

Was he waking up? Had he been asleep? It was no longer daytime, but there were no windows in here. Perhaps time had been lost to Yuri. Was that possible?

An anger bloomed in Otabek’s chest all over again.

"Otabek?" Yuri managed at last, eyes blinking in the crappy light and focusing on him. They widened when they did. "Otabek!"

"Yuri," Otabek saw now the bites down his arms, on his shoulders. The dried, dark blood across his skin and clothes. His stomach twisted, and the anger spread further, vines curling through his ribs, down his lungs.

Yuri saw Otabek’s eyes. "I’m okay, I’m okay!" Yuri leaned forward. "You - you figured it out."

"Yuri…” Otabek finally found his limbs and stepped into the room.

Yuri seemed to wake the rest of the way, and he twisted in his binds and looked around, wildly, before looking back to Otabek. "He knows! He’s been here all along, Otabek, he knows everything."

"It’s okay," Otabek started saying, reaching for his knife. The silver would hurt Yuri for a moment, but he'd make it quick.

"Otabek!" Yuri yelled, eyes staring directly past him.  

Otabek had half a second to decide something; the decision was easy.

As he whirled around, he tossed his knife to Yuri.

He didn’t see where it landed but he prayed it was near him.

The door slammed shut. The lock clicked.

Sal stood before him.

Yes, Otabek remembered this. How tall he managed to loom over everything when he stood. He was broad, the broader of vampire's Otabek had seen. His hair was slicked back, and his eyes watched Otabek with an insane sort of glee.

"You did come," he said, voice low and hauntingly smooth. “You’ve come to take my toy away again.”

Sal looked stronger than Otabek remembered. His presence stuck to the air in a way Otabek had never felt from another vampire. It was heavy, like an actual weight that pulled their space inward, lulling everything into orbit around him.

Otabek stepped back. Sal grinned wide, and the room seemed to get colder.

"You’re the one killing all my friends with Yuri," Sal said.

The way he filled his mouth with Yuri’s name crawled up Otabek’s spine.

He didn't answer and sized up the empty areas of the room against Sal. He needed a plan.  

He moved his hand to his jacket. Sal likely noticed - his eyes were too intense not to be aware of everything. But he was too arrogant to show he cared.  

"You’re not going to talk to me?” Sal mocked. “After you and Yuri spent so long looking for me? You know, I turned him because I knew he'd make an excellent vampire. I’m glad to see I was right."

Otabek stepped back once more, and Sal stepped to the side, so Otabek did, too. For each step Sal took, he moved as well.

Sal walked with ease, as if hardly bothered to be here. His eyes didn't stop picking apart Otabek though, analyzing his every move.

"So you think you can hit your target this time?"

Otabek threw the bag he’d taken from his jacket into the room, and silver bullets scattered everywhere. They rolled across the floor in a parade of little clings, their surfaces glinting like tiny stars as they neared Sal’s feet.

Sal grunted, amused. "Pebbles," he said. "I’m stronger than your average vampire."

Otabek brought the gun up to fire, but stalled - he'd let Sal move between him and Yuri. A shot gone wrong would risk hitting Yuri, and that was something Otabek couldn't afford.

This seemed to be Sal’s intent, because another leering smirk spread across his face.

" _Really_ , won’t you talk to me?" he chided. "I would _really_ love to find out why a human would form this sort of bond with that." His hand gestured behind him.

"You talk too much,” Otabek said, and twirled his gun around to fire it behind him blindly. Sal’s eyes flickered behind Otabek to wherever the bullet lodged, likely the longest distraction he could get out of Sal. He attempted jumping to the side to shoot at him.

Somehow, Sal was a step ahead of him, already fading past Otabek.

Otabek used his next step to turn himself around and rip out his stake for defense, since he no longer had his knife. A moment of light flashed as an arm smacked against it with a sharp thwack.

Otabek reared backward, not wanting to be within touching distance of Sal unless he completely held the upper-hand.

He could hear the others yelling outside, like some distant thunderstorm. Outside, the real thunderstorm shook the building.

Otabek’s back touched against the armory in the room. The handles dug sharply into his back and the drawers clattered loose on their hinges.

Sal would consider the sound and movement a momentary lapse in human focus. Yuri had explained to Otabek the method of waiting for the natural instinct to pull human focus off the vampire for just a moment, long enough to strike.

Otabek anticipated Sal and dropped his height. He heard Sal’s fists hit against the wooden doors; they rattled more violently. Otabek used the energy in his knees to bound forward, stake sizzling as he struck into Sal’s abdomen. Sal stumbled back with a vulgar shout, and Otabek nearly got dragged with the stake, but it pulled out, bloodied and dark at the tip.

For a moment, Yuri was in Otabek’s view. He was wincing, holding still; something glinted behind his back.

The sky roiled outside.

Otabek’s heart thundered its own storm as he brought his gun to land a weakening bullet into Sal, but the vampire seemed enraged by his own pain. He moved even faster than before, and Otabek’s gun flung from his hands with a slash from the vampire. It skidded across the floor.

Dust billowed into the room as Sal moved through it, grabbing Otabek by his arm and yanking him to the side.

Otabek rolled backward when he hit the ground, stake pointed out.

"Your tactics bore me," Sal said, staring down at Otabek. He was actually pausing in the pursuit, as if Otabek wasn't worth continuous battle.

Otabek clambered back to his feet. With stake in hand, he wanted so badly to charge blindly into Sal. If he knew that wouldn't end worse for him.

He heard a snap of rope. It echoed in the room – it snatched his own attention for a whole second.

Fuck.

He really was just a human.

Sal was at Otabek’s side, and Otabek felt himself nearly tip into him, the lull that Sal used working into him in its strange, gravity-mirroring ways. Time seemed to drag, the light flickering above their heads pulsating in and out.

"Otabek!" Yuri shouted.

Otabek’s brain slammed back to reality; he clutched the stake, trying to ignore the horror that rose in him as he felt Sal so close behind him, hands hot on his shoulders. _His skin was hot!_

He shoved the stake backward, and Sal shoved him hard to dodge the stab. Otabek stumbled forward with the severity of the push, and something hit him hard in the stomach. Sal again, spinning round from behind.

His attempt to twist around and still attack Sal backfired as his foot stepped into a box and his ankle twisted underneath him. He hit the ground hard, and the stake rolled away.

Otabek was pretty sure his name was being called outside the door, but he couldn't do anything, process anything, as Sal leaned down and gripped Otabek’s jacket. He pulled him up to his face, eyes black and void.

"I was hoping I’d get to kill you in front of Yuri," he whispered. “It’s the only reason I kept him sane.”

He was managing to hang on to his own trajectory and not fall back into the pull from Sal’s eyes, but his consciousness alone couldn’t save him.

Otabek could only just see over Sal’s shoulder, and movement there caught his eye. He shouldn't have looked, but there was a gleam of silvery white he couldn't ignore.

He couldn't help but smile.

Sal dropped him - or more likely, threw him back down - and rose up.

"Hey," Yuri said. Standing in the center of the room with his arms outstretched. Otabek’s gun was in his hands, and the bullets inside shone so bright the gun glowed, too.

Yuri fired the gun, and fired, and fired, his frame jerking back with each blast. Sal howled in anger, cursed Yuri, but tried to step forward. He was so stubborn and full of pride. Dark blood plopped to the ground in large droplets.

Otabek couldn't manage to find his feet as he watched Yuuri unload the gun into Sal, Sal seeming to be affected enough at last by the overwhelming amount of silver in the small space. Guiding them into a small room had been a mistake after all.  

Sal wheezed, clutched his abdomen, but lurched toward Yuri. Yuri darted from his hands easily.

“That’s for my grandfather,” Yuri said. He threw the gun to the floor.

The others pounded against the door; the knob wobbled as it was tried.

Otabek tried to stand, but his ankle protested with an ache that snaked up his leg.

Sal staggered to a pile of boxes and knocked his weight against them. They tumbled toward Yuri, but Yuri swept from their path, crouching to grab something from the ground. Pale light glinted again, though Yuri hid well the pain he must’ve felt.

The following moments dragged out, and Otabek felt that he was observing through a window.

Dust billowed into the room as boxes crashed. Darkness was blooming across Sal’s clothes rapidly, and his stomach sizzled and steamed horribly. With abhorrence, he growled, eyes unwavering on Yuri. Yuri was so small compared to him, and Otabek’s stomach dropped as Sal prepared to swing an arm out.

Sal was slowed by his pain however, and Yuri was lithe and fast. He swayed out of Sal’s reach and crossed behind him.

The stake flowed hot white in his hand, and Otabek wondered how long he could hold onto it. He didn’t have much time.

He tried stretching out his foot, but his ankle still pained.

Sal was healing but still slowed down. Yuri could try to do him in any time.

Sal twisted around, agitated by Yuri circling him. Yuri was backing across the room, stake pointed outward.

Otabek saw, now, his hand was slightly shaking.

“I was right to believe you’d make a strong vampire,” Sal repeated himself from before, a sickening smile spreading across his face. He was hunched forward a little, the front of his shirt completely colored in. A piece of silver dropped from his healing wounds and dinged on the floor.

Yuri’s eyes narrowed. He stepped toward the armory, then stopped. He was braced and ready for something - but for what? Otabek was confused. He recognized Yuri’s battle tactics. Waiting for the enemy to charge straight forward wasn’t one of them.

“The moment I remembered who I am, I knew I’d find a way to end you.”

“You’re defected,” Sal shook his head. “You remember your life, like me. But you remember and _care_.”

“You don’t know me!” Yuri gripped the stake in both hands now. He watched Sal intently, his own feet placed apart.

“I will,” Sal growled. “When I have you.” Another bullet fell from him, and he launched forward. Otabek hardly had the perception sharp enough to catch Yuri kick the bottom of the armory. It must have been with some great force, because the wood splintered inward.

As Sal’s arm reached to catch the armory, so did the stake plunge into his chest. Bright light blasted between the vampires.

The force of the stab sent Sal stumbling backwards with Yuri still gripping the stake, shoving it deep.

Sal’s eyes were wide, his mouth hung open in words or a scream that wouldn’t come out.

“This one is for me,” Yuri whispered, barely audible.

With arms that shook, Sal tried reaching up to Yuri one last time. Yuri dug in deeper, twisting the stake, and the light from it gleamed a little stronger.

Sal’s eyes went glassy. His body slumped around the wood.

When Yuri let go, Sal crumpled like a huge bear shot down.

The door to the room burst open.

The others piled in, but their commotion died fast when they took in the scene.

Yuri stood there, hair in his face, the wildness of his eyes highlighted by the dulling glow of the stake in Sal. His hands still shook, and the silver in the room still twinkled.

Otabek had been holding his breath, but even now he couldn’t release it, because he didn’t know what would happen next.

But then Yuri moved to Otabek. He stared at him with eyes Otabek recognized, but they were distant and echoed something unfamiliar. Something that made Otabek’s chest tighten.

He saw Yuri’s palms were blistered and red.

Still, Yuri knelt before Otabek, looked him in the eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“I... am.” Otabek blinked. “Are you? Yuri - oh my god, you-”

Yuri was still covered in his own blood and bites and now that he was close, it was evident his whole body was shivering. He wasn’t okay.

Yuri looked about to reach out to Otabek, but he suddenly grew fainter. His eyes rolled shut as he swayed back.

“Yuri!” Otabek tried to lean forward to reach him, agonizing ankle be damned, but someone else caught Yuri.

“We need to get him out of this room,” JJ said, arms secured under Yuri’s shoulders. JJ locked eyes with Otabek with a terse nod.

Then Victor and Yuuri were there, finally moving; they helped Otabek up, each holding one of his arms.

“The others are dead?” Otabek said. He didn’t take his eyes off Yuri, who JJ was gathering with one arm under his back and the other under his knees. He was careful, but Yuri was loose like a doll, and it made Otabek’s insides twist.

With a step forward he tested weight on his ankle, gritting his teeth against the pain that shot up his leg.

“You’re hurt and exhausted,” Yuuri tugged him back by the arm. “They’re all dead, Otabek. It’s okay.”

“And you know he’ll be okay,” Victor said, head gesturing toward Yuri. Of course – because a vampire couldn’t be killed by fatigue or torture.

Yeah. Of course.

That didn’t make this better. Yuri was more than something that could only be alive or dead.

Minako was inspecting Sal, likely making sure he was actually dead.

“I’m going to get Mila and Sara to help me with these bodies. The rest of you get to the station and I’ll see you soon.”

“He did it,” Otabek surmised the evening as they stared at Sal’s body. Definitely, definitely dead.

Outside, the sky shouted thunder again.

If there was something Otabek didn’t expect, it was that Yuri would pick up his weapons and attack Sal himself. He’d always imagined this fight going down as all their other’s had: the two of them slowly wearing the enemy down, until Otabek managed the final blow.

Yuri had risen to the occasion, though; he’d gotten his revenge.

But he looked so small and frail in JJ’s arms.

Despite the damp of the basement, a delicate warmth draped over Otabek: it was light, pleasant, like fog rolling out as sunbeams touched the earth.

A look directly into the future still presented a muddled reality, but right now everything was okay. Yuri was alive, scathed but here, and Sal was dead.

Thunder beat down against the darkness like the town was crumbling, but for the moments suspended between their success in the basement and the rumbling outside, as his friends helped he and Yuri away, Otabek could grasp that this horror was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon/) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> finally some good news!!!!  
> a 'warning' of sorts lol ~ the next chapter is super long! the longest. i could have cut it up but it didn't feel right.  
> >end physical trials  
> >continue the emotional ones XD


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's funny how easy it is to deny what's in front of you, just because something maybe not existing hurts so much more than pushing away its possibility. control is so comforting, but also so limiting.  
> ~  
> if you've come this far... you're truly incredible!

 

"Sprained,” Dr. Giacometti said. “Stay off it, we’ll get you a crutch.”

The doctor’s eyes shifted to where Yuri had been laid down on the couch in front of the fireplace. A fire had been stoked.

“For how long?” Otabek tried to bring his attention back.

His eyes stayed on Yuri. “Be careful on it for a week. Come see me after a week and we’ll see how it is.”

“He won’t hurt you,” Otabek affirmed.

Dr. Giacometti shook his head. “He’s covered in bites. Are they…?” he ventured, voice trailing.

“Yes.” Otabek’s stomach twisted. He could feel the others standing behind them, their own curiosities killing the words they’d been exchanging with Minako, Sara, and Mila.

Sara and Mila had now been briefed on the situation. They took the news well, their surprise buried deep. Otabek suspected they’d skip town first chance they got.

“They aren’t healing fast,” Dr. Giacometti noted.

“They will. But they’ll scar.”

He felt like he was revealing something intimate with these words, but Dr. Giacometti only hummed in acknowledgment. “We should get that blood off him. I’ll dampen a towel.” He rose, his chair scratching across the floor.

For some reason, that was what triggered Yuri’s consciousness, and his eyes snapped open. He bolted upright on the couch, freezing when he took in the whole room.

Otabek winced to hear the momentary shift in feet behind him, and he prayed no one had gone for a weapon.

“Yuri,” he said, hoping to pull his attention to something familiar, and fast.

Yuri’s eyes were wide and manic, as if he wasn’t seeing a room of humans but his last moments with Sal. Firelight glowed behind him, and Otabek wished they were alone; there were so many words spread through the air that he needed to catch and use. They were scattered between him and Yuri, and it wasn’t just in this room but in all spaces they shared, words between them no one said and both pretended not to notice. Right now, though, he felt like he could maybe grab hold of them. The right one this time.

But not with everyone’s eyes behind him.

“Yuri,” Otabek tried again, and this time Yuri saw him.

“Where are we?” Yuri asked.

“At the station. It’s okay, you – you killed Sal, remember? It’s over.”

Yuri blinked slowly, remembering. His eye still held that wildness from before, a dark layer added somewhere in their depths.

Dr. Giacometti cleared his throat, breaking the swelling silence. “I’ll get that towel.”

“You remember, right?” Otabek pushed.

Yuri sneered, maybe not like himself, but at least with the reflection of it. “Of course I remember cutting down that fucking demon. It’s just I…” His eyebrows shot up as he recalled something else, and his tone heightened. “Otabek, I’m sorry I didn’t-“ his voice trailed off as he seemed to fully register the others.

“It’s okay. We can talk later.”

Dr. Giacometti re-emerged with a dampened towel. Yuri visibly recoiled as Dr. Giacometti stepped up to him, but Dr. Giacometti didn’t falter.

“Here,” he said, handing out the towel. “I’m Dr. Giacometti. Do let me know if you need anything, for whatever I could do for you.”

Yuri took the towel, nodding, not quite meeting Dr. Giacometti’s eyes.

As soon as he had, Dr. Giacometti spun on his heels to face Otabek. “The storm is passing. I’ll head down the block to my office and get what you’ll need.”

He bowed his way out.

“We wish we could stay, but Mila and I should resume our patrol,” Sara said, idly twirling a stake in her hand before inserting it into a loop on her belt. Bright eyes flickered to Yuri. “Thanks, you.”

“Do we have to go?” Mila whined. “This is so cool, I don’t want to miss anything.”

“Thanks for your help so far, ladies,” Minako threw in before Sara could push Mila out the door. “It looks like soon you can be heading home, maybe once Otabek heals.”

Sara sent back a toothy grin in acknowledgment. “We’ll check in tomorrow!”

Once the door swung shut, Minako let her sharp gaze hit Yuri. He didn’t back down, didn’t move; just stared back. Victor had an arm around Yuuri, and Yuuri watched Minako with his own tentative eyes.

Thunder roiled down over the hills faraway.

Minako took a deep breath and held out her hands. “Well, I’m officially done pretending I know everything.” She pulled her gun out of its hilt and set it on her desk, then went to Yuri. “Thank you, Yuri.” She held out a hand.

Time drifted past where the only movement in the room were the pair's shadows in a dance on the floorboards.

Yuri pushed back his shoulders and clasped hands with Minako. "It’s better for us all that he's gone," he affirmed.

The approving smile that pulled apart Minako’s face was a rare gem to witness.

She turned to Otabek, eyebrow raised, smile faltering but not gone. She brushed her hair back with one hand, the other stuck into her pocket.

"Otabek." Otabek would have stood to her attention if not for his injury. He remained confined to his chair, feeling uncomfortably small, and unable to fathom whatever she may say to him despite the good standing of their current situation.

"I’m sorry I’ve doubted you all this time. I’m still unsure of what you plan to do next," she paused, letting the implication of the future yet-to-be sink in like a venom she couldn't help but inject, "but you've clearly done your best to keep humanity's safety in your sight."

Otabek wanted to let those words fold around him, conceal him from any other truths; there was still so much about the water he tread now he didn't understand. What seemed to be puddles was lakes was oceans. Had he kept humanity close to his heart?

minako tilted her head but didn't seem to be awaiting a response; merely, she nodded, punctuating her words with her intense stare.

With her next blink, the countenance was gone, her walls locking back into place. "But let yourself heal before hurling everything you’ve got into some other reckless venture. That’s a goddamn order."

"Minako," Victor inserted himself into the line of the fire's glow over them. "Go home and rest. Yuuri and I can lock up here after Dr. Giacometti returns."

She didn't argue that, grabbing her gun and re-harnessing it. "I’ll see you all tomorrow," she said, pointing to Otabek to throw in, "Except you. _Rest_." Minako hailed out into the night.

It seemed Yuuri had been waiting for the people in the room to lessen, because he immediately stepped toward Yuri. Yuri watched with careful eyes - Otabek saw the things Yuuri had revealed in there, and he knew Yuri DID remember. He really, truly remembered his life before. God, how had he managed all this time with so much trapped inside his head?

"I’m sorry I didn't get to you in time. To him in time." Yuuri’s voice shook, trembled, and it pained Otabek to listen to. He hurt for Yuuri’s failure, for Yuuri’s suffering. And he hurt for the notion that Yuri had almost been saved. That he'd died one night years ago, and his would-be hero stood before him now.

Otabek thought maybe Yuri wouldn't say anything, too caught in the throes of trauma and disoriented by the situation. However, he took a deep breath and looked into the fire: "I just wanted to be a hunter like you when I was a kid. I wish it could have been you."

The strike of those words through the heart of everyone present was almost audible, yet no one uttered a word, and Yuri continued. "But I don't mourn it like you might think. So don't... don't let it eat you."

"I... okay," Yuuri nodded, taking a step back, his frame seeming small. Victor put a hand on his shoulder. Squeezed it.

Otabek stared at that hand, mind drifting, until Yuri’s voice brought him back again. "I’d say I forgive you, but it's not your fault. But… thank you.”

The world was quiet. No rain, thunder, no sound at all save for the crackling of flames.

The throbbing of Otabek’s ankle had hushed to mere ghosts. Yuri distracted himself by finally using the towel to clear himself of blood. Dr. Giacometti would be returning soon, Otabek hoped.

"Where will you go?" Victor asked Yuri.

Otabek didn't think, nor did he let there be enough pause for Yuri to answer. "With me," he said. He didn't look at Yuri, though he could see Yuri in the side of his vision purposefully not looking up from his cleaning.

"Fair enough," Victor said. "Sunrise is still a couple hours out."

"Right," Otabek agreed.

He didn't mention that he didn't plan on Yuri leaving even when those sunbeams broke over the mountains; if Yuri wouldn't argue it, at least.

~

Yuri’s skin was cool like the stormy air the few times it brushed Otabek’s hands as they made their way back to his apartment. The walk was slow and sauntering, what with Otabek leaning on a crutch and Yuri dazed and staring at the ground glistening with the recent rain.

They didn't speak as they came upon Otabek’s place, where they'd already been earlier in the night. It still infuriated Otabek so many answers had been right under his nose. It would always infuriate him. Maybe this meant it was a good time to move, to start fresh somewhere else.

Otabek led Yuri into his apartment. Funny, the last time he'd been in his place, he'd thought he may never see Yuri again.

All of Otabek’s edges felt fatigued, but his mind stayed alert by the sheer number of questions still waiting to be asked. He also wanted to hear Yuri’s words to him. Anything. He just wanted to talk to Yuri.

He fell onto his bed, arm sore from handling the crutch the entire walk back. He set it on the floor.

Yuri sat in the chair by his dresser. The distance and silence and static between them was sharp and uncomfortable.

Otabek let their only light be the lamp beside his table; it lit his space, but only barely reached Yuri, keeping him partly in the shadows of the corner.

He leaned back and crossed his legs, as if preparing for an interrogation. Fierce eyes stared unwavering at Otabek now, but still with that added depth that disconcerted him.

Yuri still looked a mess, and now that Otabek was looking at him more fully, even in the poor light, he saw the dark under his eyes. His hands gripped the arms of the chair in a vice; he was tense. They needed to push past this.

He could start with "are you okay" or something similarly general, but that would give Yuri chance to scoff at him, mock him, and try to force this night into something less interrogatory.

"So Sal is the one who turned you."

Yuri nodded. "Yes."

"And killed your grandfather? The rest of your family?"

"Just my grandfather. But he was all." Yuri’s eyes fell away as he said that, and Otabek hated to push it, but he needed to.

"How much do you remember?"

Yuri was clearly expecting this question; Otabek thought the answer would be simple, but he took a deep breath, looking more tired than ever. "I don't know. Sometimes things come back to me. Right when I wake up, or it just hits me. But the memories hit me in full, emotions and all." He put a tensed hand over his heart, letting his fingers cut into his chest as if he wanted to claw whatever was inside there out. He didn't add to that, eyes staring hard past the floorboards.

Otabek let those words reach him - his memory went back to the strange things Yuri has said, and all the tiny quirks that made Yuri so different. In many ways, those differences had lent to his strength.

But as Yuri motionlessly clawed at the nearly-still thing in his chest, Otabek imagined the fire that must burn inside him constantly, far too hot for him to contain. Burning, making him angry, impatient, driven, powerful, beautiful... Otabek could list the words out into the air or on paper and it wouldn't matter. That hurt and passion would still lift Yuri up and drag him down, always seeking something that the world didn’t offer. An in-between.

"I’m sorry I didn't find you sooner," Otabek told him.

The words pulled Yuri back to the chair. "Thank you for finding me at all."

A heavy pause. Otabek ran a hand through his hair, eyes suddenly finding it hard to meet Yuri’s.

"I can’t believe he was here. I… I was so worried.”

"Otabek... do your friends want to kill me?"

"What? No, no more than they want to kill me, at least."

Yuri’s shoulders fell as if that had weighed on his mind a while now. "Okay, good."

God, they were not good at this.

Otabek liked to think he was one who, despite not appreciating small talk or any general amount of talking really, didn't waste time with reaching a point.

But suddenly he wasn't sure what his point would be anyway. And it was no wonder he couldn't fucking think of how to speak with Yuri sitting across from him like he was being interviewed. This wasn't them.

He reached down and grabbed his crutch, using it to hoist himself off the bed. Yuri twitched in his seat, looking about to stand to help Otabek. Instead he gripped the arms again, as if holding himself down.

Otabek pointed to the dresser. "Bottom drawer, there's a blanket. Red, wool. Pull it out." he closed the curtains of his window. After a moment's quiet confusion, Yuri obeyed.

The drawers coughed when scraped against the old wood. It was odd to have Yuri digging in his drawers. The thought was idle, fleeting.

Yuri handed him the blanket, expression pensive.

Otabek put his weight on his uninjured ankle and set his crutch against the bedside table. He grabbed the blanket by its top folded layer and let it unfurl to the ground.

Yuri took a step back and watch without comment as Otabek tucked the top section of the blanket into the curtain rod, making sure it wouldn't slide down. He did his best to ensure the entire expanse of window was cloaked.

Hopefully sunshine couldn’t get through that.

Closer to the light, the shadows under Yuri’s eyes were even darker. His hair was in disarray, and his demeanor was clung with fatigue as much as Otabek’s.

The chill outside had stuck to Yuri’s skin easy, but now -

Otabek lifted his hand; cold, like cobblestone under moonlight.

Otabek felt himself become a little more tired. Understanding Yuri’s present hunger, the maddening lull he must fight even now when so weak - it made Otabek want to let his mind fog up and lose all inhibition. It was almost like he was back to stage 1 of fighting Yuri’s vampire's gaze, except without Yuri actually trying. Otabek was lost to just Yuri himself now.

The chill creeping along his fingers grounded Otabek. He clasped Yuri’s hand tighter. Some of that scary depth filled in Yuri’s eyes, filled with that desire Otabek dreamed about now.

Yuri let himself be pulled into Otabek. His whole body was so cool that a breeze seemed to come off him.

Otabek pressed Yuri’s head into the crook of his neck and kissed the top of his head. Yuri was tense in his arms, hands slowly drifting up Otabek’s back until they found a place to clamp down.

Otabek smoothed out his hair; he smelled of the cellar, and daphne, and others - Otabek recalled the bites along Yuri. He held him tighter to him, his eyes squeezing shut.

"I -" he started, voice thick. Yuuri must have relaxed against him, because suddenly he was freezing up again.

Whatever the words had been, they were gone now. Otabek pulled away enough to guide Yuri to the bed, ignoring the twinge in his ankle as he took a spare step on it.

He bent down to pull off his shoes, the process stretched out by his ankle, and Yuri sat in front of him on the bed.

Already was he bringing his legs onto the sheets. His eyes watched as if Otabek was the most interesting thing to be observed.

Yuri settling into Otabek’s abdomen was so reminiscent of that first night. It was hard to resist kissing along his neck, nuzzling into his hair, and holding him there until dusk the following day bid him away.

Yuri leaned his head back against Otabek’s shoulder, so Otabek humored himself a while longer and did just hold him. His hands on Yuri’s drew circles with his thumbs against skin.

He counted to twenty, then let go.

The knife was already on the bedside table.   

He brought it to him, in front of Yuri, whose head still leaned back.

"Otabek," he whispered. "Thank you for trusting me."

In response, Otabek kissed the shell of his ear and made that well-practiced cut across his forearm.

Yuri’s hand grabbed his wrist and held him, unmoving. He inhaled once, deep, his shoulders rising. Otabek focused on the contact with Yuri’s body and not the stinging pain.

When Yuri shifted, he wrapped his mind around the feel of his muscles, the grace at which he did everything.

He started counting when Yuri’s lips were against him. The numbers faded in and out.

Yuri pulled away right before Otabek spoke up.

He wrapped his arm up for him, like always. Otabek rested his head against the wall, keeping even breaths. He felt like he hadn't eaten in days. They were so reckless even when so careful.

He wanted to bring Yuri even closer, to kiss him, to lay him down and press all the words he couldn't say into a hundred places along his body. But he needed to rest. They both did.

Otabek could feel Yuri curling into him more, the side of his head along his chest; he was holding onto his arm to keep it elevated, and Otabek let a smile scarce his lips.

Darkness pulled at the colors behind his eyelids. He watched it go, waiting for the blackness to dominate completely.

It felt like mere breaths long, but much time must have passed, because he was yanked awake by a yell and movement from his arms.

Otabek’s eyes snapped open, and his attention was pulled directly to Yuri’s wide, fearful gaze. He sat straight up, eyes manic and unfocused.

"Yuri!" Otabek whispered. "Yuri?" he put a hand on his back. Yuri turned to look at him, blinking and dazed.

"Were you... asleep?" Otabek glanced the clock in his room. It wasn't quite 4am.

Yuri scowled. "I’m all... fucked up." he clenched his fists. Otabek’s hand brushed Yuri’s neck. He wasn't warm now, but warmer at least.

"After Sal kept me down there, my body lost track of when day or night was." He touched his arms, rubbing passively along the scarring marks. "He would have kept me down there for so long. Draining me, slowly. Fuck, I - he wouldn't -" Yuri’s voice was rising, a panic swelling in him that Otabek hadn't been witness to before. His mind stumbled through its sleep as he wrapped a hand around one of Yuri’s wrists.

"It’s okay," he attempted to sound soft. "You don't have to say it. I know."

Yuri’s voice quieted but didn't calm as he said quickly, "I can't stop seeing him. And that place. That smell."

Otabek wished he could will the fear he saw in him away. Wished this wasn't something that would take time.

Yuri would be okay again, one day. But for now... Otabek would be whatever he needed.

"You’re safe now." Otabek caressed down Yuri’s cheek, gently turning his head to face him. "You can stay here as long as you want, you know."

Otabek drank in the softness of Yuri’s expression. He glowed a little in the lamplight, and the sallowness of his eyes was retreating.

Yuri’s hand caressed down the wrist and arm that held his face, until he met the bandage along his forearm.

"You care about me,” Yuri stated, not as a question, but like he needed the words said out to believe them.

"What gave it away?" sarcasm felt strange on his tongue, but Yuri huffed small laughter and rolled his eyes.

"Fair," he said. "Then you must know..." he leaned forward, and Otabek’s hand slid easily to the back of his head. “I do not want to kill you."

Otabek didn't know he'd missed Yuri’s smirk, that cocky twitch of his lips accompanied by those glinting eyes, until it was all before him.

He leaned the rest of the way in and kissed Yuri, so fucking glad he was here with him again. Otabek missed him so much, and it was a longing that stretched beyond these past two days, but instead was unfolded and splayed out into all days. All days without Yuri that Otabek thought he may endure, time where he would be left with loose ends only. Words still caught in his mouth, cobwebs in his brain, a hurt in the cavern of his chest that may never leave.

Yuri’s lips left long enough to move himself over Otabek’s lap, using his knees to keep him over him. He ran hands up Otabek’s neck and under his jaw that let chills freely cascade down him.

Yuri leaned down to Otabek’s mouth again, with more passion than before. Otabek greeted it with a hum in his throat that was more needy sound than he would want to admit.

Yuri over him made him heady. He’d never have enough nearness to his body, no matter what parts of each other they borrowed.

It was the feel of Yuri’s tongue in his mouth that dropped a heat inside him; fog came back in to shroud these moments in a protective, secretive veil. Just them, no past or future: only this.

The way Yuri pulled away was so deliciously teasing that Otabek couldn’t bemoan him. Yuri’s hands traced down Otabek’s chest, lowering himself against Otabek in a way that was torturous.

"Come to think of it," Yuri’s voice was all silken temptation, and he let his hands trail lower. "I would regret not tasting this again."

"Yuri," Otabek sighed, the name half a protest. He didn't want to give into Yuri yet, wanted to draw their night out into infinity because he'd touched too many times the idea of never seeing or feeling him again, and the idea was still too close.

If this bubble they were in could just live on forever...

Yuri brought him to an edge so high his heart shook him with each heavy beat, and he was clenching nails into his palms and the blankets they laid on.

He managed to coax Yuri away before he was completely gone, Yuri’s look of disappointment actually costing Otabek several extra breaths as he waited for the ringing in his ears to die down.

He kissed him briefly, letting the emotions that were usually curled up tight in his chest bleed through it. By the time he pulled back again, it was just to press his forehead against Yuri’s as he began pulling at the tops of Yuri’s pants. Together they managed the clothes off, and Otabek coaxed him back into a straddle over his lap until they were touching.

Yuri hissed through grit teeth as Otabek took them both in his hand; he reveled in both the sound and Yuri’s hands gripping his shoulders so tight it hurt. Otabek hoped he'd have bruises on him.

"Why does," Yuri’s breath hitched before he could continue, "being touched by you feel so fucking incredible?"

"Mmm," Otabek unhelpfully answered, leaning into another kiss to distract himself from how Yuri also felt fucking incredible.

Yuri pulled back sharply, a gasp cutting them off before Yuri bit his own lip to keep sound in. Otabek didn't let his eyes leave Yuri’s face as he made him come apart, fucking gorgeously. When Otabek came too, Yuri kissed along his neck. His lips traced a path up his jawline, to finally his mouth, and he led them into a lazy, gently glowing kiss.

~

Otabek roused to shower when his eyes opened again, which was at 8. Still not a full night's worth of sleep, but enough for now.

Yuri was asleep. Otabek looked upon his face for the delicate expression of a being at rest, but swallowed hard at the sight of Yuri’s stony expression. He looked more on-pause than asleep. The same way he'd looked when he'd passed out before.

Unconsciousness was different for vampires. Dead and icy, not warm and pleasant. Otabek didn't think he could wake Yuri if he tried. Except Yuri’s sense of time still wasn't adjusted, so he crept from the bed as silently as he could just in case.

Otabek left his room dark - the blankets worked well to block out the light. He closed the door partway, leaving Yuri inside to rest, hopefully for the day.

The idea of leaving made Otabek uneasy. If Yuri woke up - well, Otabek felt his face grow warm with the silly idea that Yuri would be discomforted by his absence.

Still, he didn't leave and set to attending to his apartment in the ways it'd been neglected the past few days. Mostly the kitchen needed cleaning, old food thrown out.

He glanced the cut along his arm. Yuri would need more than what Otabek could give. Maybe not now, but eventually. How did he feel about what Yuri needed to do to survive now? He searched for that once-overcoming feeling of disgust and confusion. But there was none.

Otabek wanted to pretend he didn't know what they were going to do, but he was painfully aware that in actuality, they didn't have many options. This couldn't last, this couldn't go on without cause or reason. They couldn't just... be.

Could they?

Otabek now saw the falsehoods of the black-and-white world he once lived it. Recognizing the grey area, though, certainly doesn't make the world an easier place.

He wanted to live in it with Yuri though. No matter who either of them were.

Would they have still come together if Sal never turned Yuri?

The pull on his heart toward the bedroom told him they certainly would have.

~

Otabek spent the day cleaning, and at one point explaining as much as he could to Mrs. Nishigori, who was pale and astir with fright that she'd harbored a vampire for so long, and that she and possibly her children had let them all inside.

The afternoon wound away - Otabek forgot the day had so many hours to itself. It'd been so long since he'd done practically nothing with his time.

Letting the day wind away like this prickled his nerves, for action wasn't far behind him. Sometimes he caught himself paused in a chore, staring blankly while his mind replayed the night before in his mind.

He welcomed the evening with a book as it was the only sort of activity he thought might actually still his mind.

Yuri appeared solidly asleep still, so Otabek lit a lamp in the corner of the room by his chair.

He opened his book. Shifted in his seat. Stared up at Yuri, who motionlessly slept on.

His mind couldn’t ease, and perhaps it was weird to sit in here with Yuri asleep.

Otabek tried again to read anyway; the words on the page sounded heavy in his head, and he struggled to ease into them and let them forget his own self.

Yuri woke up then. He didn’t ease into consciousness, but rather bolted up in bed, as if just thrown from a dreaming of falling.

The book was shut and forgotten fast; Otabek stayed in the chair, though.

With narrowed and scrutinizing eyes, Yuri stared about himself and then at Otabek. The light illuminated Yuri’s face as a distant warm glow that cast away would-be menacing shadows. He already looked better, the dark under his eyes retreating even further.

“It’s not sundown yet,” Yuri said.

“There’s still a few hours.”

“Damn,” Yuri sighed and sat back into the headboard. “This is frustrating.”

“I think you just need one more day of sleep.”

"Yeah, I guess so."

“We can take the blankets off at night to help you adjust.”

Yuri stared at the covers on him without word. He was so human laying there, and the orange glow of the light made his skin look almost flushed with life.

The memory of the night before was across both their expressions in the silence. The silence, which felt stilted and uncomfortable between them. Perhaps it manifested from their situation: there was no vampire to hunt, no place for them to really go. Maybe they'd be nothing without that motivation, Otabek thought.

The energy between them the night before had been left over from that final battle and the tension of the scrutiny from all Otabek’s peers. It’d been spent now.

If the flame was extinguished between them, left to ghosts made up of impressions and memories, then their break could be clean and thorough.

Yet it wasn't just the night before ghosting across Otabek’s mind: it was all nights, and moments, and the dark space that'd formed in Yuri’s eyes since Sal that he still needed to fill.

His body felt wrongly rooted in his chair. He wanted to move and cross the room to Yuri and put his arms around him. Otabek wanted to be there to help him heal from the nightmares locked in his mind and the life-long grip of Sal he suddenly found himself without.

But he couldn't move, much less let those words leave him.

He couldn't when he didn't know if Yuri would even want to take any of that from Otabek.

Despite the faux rosiness to Yuri’s face, he was cold. Even the casualty they'd found themselves in together a week ago seemed closed off.

Yuri still stared at the blankets over his legs. The hand closest to Otabek bunched the fabric in a fist.

What if this was the last Otabek would see of Yuri? Yuri would have to stay in here for the remainder of these daylight hours, and then he'd go.

Or maybe he'd wait that one more day until he could sleep normally again.

"You can take your time,” Otabek said. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he should.

Yuri’s hand clenched tighter, but he looked up at Otabek.

Otabek’s heart felt simultaneously heavy and light.

Then Yuri’s hand relaxed. Otabek must have been imagining it, but he thought he saw some of the coldness thaw.

"... Thanks again, Otabek."

How often had Yuri said his name? Suddenly the sound was precious - a rarity that Otabek had failed to be savoring and pressing permanently into his memory.

The roots bounding him to the chair withdrew as he breathed.

"Well then," he said, standing up and placing the book on his dresser. Yuri watched him do so with careful eyes. "I’ll leave the window open at night. You can come and go as often as-"

"No," Yuri said, and it seemed to surprise them both. He hurried to continue. "I mean I just can't go out there alone yet."

That dark space in his eyes seemed to well deeper, and Otabek once again wanted to reach out to Yuri. He clenched his fists instead.

"That’s okay," he said. Then, "I can leave with you if you want... air." it sounded like a stupid suggestion, but Otabek couldn't gather better words. If Yuri asked though, Otabek would leave with him if he wanted anything at all.

Yuri pushed hair behind his ear. Some strands fell back in resistance, and Otabek was forced to look away lest his heart pound out of his chest.

"Okay," Yuri said.

Just for something to do, Otabek took his crutch from the wall and made to leave the room. His mind was dragging for an excuse; he was thinking maybe he could use a walk, but then he wasn't sure if Yuri was uncomfortable being alone outside or altogether.

He didn't get a chance to choose his words, because Yuri jumped from the bed and moved soundlessly between Otabek and the door.

"Wait. This is stupid." his eyebrows were pushed together over a defiant stare. It put them inches apart.

Otabek didn't sway away, though not from being unfazed. He was very fazed.

The small distance between them felt tangible, like something they were physically manifesting together. It was a struggle to not let the space fade out and collide straight into Yuri.

This drug was familiar. He could feel their comfort rising with the pressure nearly caving them into one another.

If Otabek could only have numbered hours with Yuri, he'd take what he could get. This time he'd make sure to remember every space Yuri let him touch and every taste Yuri let him try.

"I just," Yuri continued, pausing and looking to re-think his words. "I wanted to - do you -" Otabek had never seen Yuri struggle with his word so much. He wanted to offer his help, except that the ways he'd finish those sentences would be fit for his own mind.

_I just want you to always stay._

_I wanted to die searching for you._

_Do you maybe feel the same way?_

These questions flying by dampened the heat, and so he refocused on the way Yuri still refused to let him leave the room yet.

His eyes burned with the energy of the words trapped inside him, but now his eyes were traveling Otabek, reading the signals he was putting out.

The empty space seemed thin as air on a mountain, especially since Otabek found it hard to take full breaths.

The space between them finally collapsed when Yuri grabbed Otabek and pulled him into a hard kiss. He almost lost his balance as his crutch slipped from under his shoulder, but Yuri’s strength kicked in and grabbed Otabek’s waist to hold him firm.

That slip of strength into their shared energies sent Otabek mad; he pushed Yuri back into the door. Yuri let himself hit against it with a thud, his muscles loosening against Otabek.

Otabek was surprised to feel Yuri’s hands twining into his hair, fingers not rough and needy but gentle.

They sent a chill through Otabek. The fire kept its heat but went from a roar to a small, hot flame somewhere in the dark inside him.

Yuri’s lips were mimicking that softness, and Otabek complied, because this slow thrum between them was easier to memorize than the rush of before. He didn't know the reason for the change in Yuri, but he brought Yuri into that tender kiss more with one hand resting against his waist, the other finding its way into Yuri’s hair. Idly, he pushed those strands behind his ear.

He thought he felt Yuri begin to smile against his lips before Yuri pulled away; there was no trace of a smile there when they faced each other again. But the dark in his eyes seemed brighter, and that was meaning enough.

There were so many words that Otabek would never say, but he had to be allowed a few of them. Detached words put together to make full meanings that only told small parts of a story much, much bigger.

Otabek could let these slip in both voice and action, and imagine these were shards of himself that Yuri would take with him. Maybe even remember, and in that way, he could selfishly imagine their connection across the empty nights to come.

Yuri’s eyes shared nothing of his own thoughts, though sometimes Otabek thought he caught the quirk of his mouth, like Yuri was about to try saying something.

Nothing ever came, and the moments where they held back built upon themselves fast. Yuri kissed Otabek again; he returned to his earlier fervor.

Otabek mourned the removal of Yuri’s hands from his hair, but was quickly gasping through their kiss as Yuri took the hem of Otabek’s pants and yanked him into him, curving his body and waist so they fit together.

It was so much to feel him, and it was always never enough. He grabbed Yuri’s wrists and backed up, pulling Yuri with him. His ankle twinged, but he tried to step off it fast. The pain was still mostly fogged by desire.

Yuri let himself be dragged along. When Otabek felt his legs hit the bed, he pushed Yuri onto it and fell on top of him with hands and knees surrounding him.

Yuri was so pliable tonight; he laid underneath him, arms tucked gently into his chest. But he stared up at Otabek with eyes that spoke of anything but complacency. Lust burned heavy in there, among a hundred mysteries that made up Yuri that Otabek would always be sifting through.

Yuri’s hair splayed around his head.

"You’re beautiful,” Otabek told him.

He saw as this shard slipped in; Yuri’s eyes widened, and his lips parted yet again like he was about to share something. But instead Yuri grabbed Otabek’s shirt and tugged him down.

Otabek felt every space across Yuri tonight. He took his time, memorizing his curves and muscles and relishing in all the ways he knew to make him move, or gasp, or speak out. All those tiny quirks of him Otabek had gathered through months of dragging Yuri into his bed just like tonight.

They should have spent more time communicating what was happening between them in words.

They could read each other's movements well; through their fights and their nights, they'd strengthened a tuning to one another that Otabek could only parallel to the instinct that came with breathing and blinking.

But they couldn't read each other's minds.

Otabek only knew how to get through to Yuri in this way.

This glorious, insane way.

Yuri was sensitive to every touch Otabek laid on him, and he let Otabek tease him to ungodly lengths without complaint. Maybe, Otabek let himself think for a wry moment between kisses on Yuri’s thighs, Yuri wanted to remember this too.

When Yuri came, he came down hard, fingers digging into Otabek so hard that the pain felt sharp enough to draw blood. It may have, because Yuri shook again, yelling Otabek’s name partway, the latter half of it cut off as his breath ran out.

Otabek had never reached a higher plane than that night either, and Yuri’s lips threatening along his neck as Otabek came inside him threatened to completely destroy him.

Even through the warm fog of his mind and the soothing feel of Yuri loosen beneath him, he just wanted more of Yuri. Maybe there was a space between them that was more than centimeters in the air.

The notion made his heart heavy. God, even now, in these shining moments with Yuri, he was a pathetic mess who couldn’t be satisfied.

Yuri pushed off the bed to kiss Otabek again. His lips were careful, like before. They invited Otabek to let the feelings welling in him pour out as he kissed back.

His arms shook with strain. Yuri let Otabek lay down beside him, and he pulled Otabek into him, kissing with a passion that Otabek hated that he loved.

~

Otabek woke up and had no idea what time it was. The lamp was still lit across the room, and Otabek felt like significant time had definitely passed.

Yuri was laying against him, head curled into his chest. Otabek swallowed hard, heart beating fast. Yuri noticed the change and shifted to look up.

"Oh, hey," he said, scooting back a little. Without thinking, Otabek moved a hand under the blankets to Yuri’s bare skin underneath. He held him from moving away more, which was the last thing Otabek wanted.

"What time is it?"

"Middle of the night."

Otabek lifted himself up only enough to see the clock on his dresser. It was half past 2.

His sleep schedule was entirely absurd.

Yuri didn't say anything.

He’d been so quiet.

Otabek cleared his throat, unsure of what to say. He wanted to stay in bed and hold Yuri to him. He wouldn't fall back asleep, because sleeping filled the hours with nothingness that didn't hold Yuri and he'd already wasted so many.

But he also couldn't lay here and do nothing now that he was awake. Would Yuri think that odd? Unless he pretended to be going back to sleep.

He wished Yuri hadn't pulled away; Otabek already felt cooler lacking Yuri curled into him.

Yuri held still under the hand Otabek kept on his waist.

"Do you want to step outside with me?"

Otabek would have offered a walk if not for his ankle. It’d have to do.

"Yes," Yuri answered, eyes wide and focused. All of Otabek itched to move the hair falling into his face. He’d tuck it behind Yuri’s ear and he'd hold the strands with his fingers and kiss Yuri.

He would, but what would the gesture mean? He was already crossing boundaries with the slide of his hand along his waist, and the way he let himself worship Yuri hours ago, and the way he knew his eyes held poorly-concealed longing now.

If Yuri saw it in him, he mercifully didn't let it show,

Soon he was pulling away to put his clothes on.

~

Yuri and Otabek sat on a bench not far from the apartment building. Clouds from the evening were rolling out now, and the moon was only thinly veiled by remnant strips. Springtime insects made small sounds from invisible places around them, but no other life roamed. Otabek knew somewhere, though, Yuuri and victor were patrolling the streets of the town.

Next to Otabek, Yuri sat with his knees brought to his chest, air falling far into his face. He scanned the shadows across the street. Otabek wondered what sounds reached them that Otabek couldn't hear.

Yuri broke the silence. "So what did you want out here?"

Otabek picked a stone glinting pale in the moonlight and focused on it.

He prepared to answer that question, but his own question came out: "What were you doing the night I first fought Sal?"

Yuri was quiet; Otabek didn't let his vision leave the stone. If Yuri decided not to answer, that would be fine.

"I was turned not long before then."

"... Oh." Otabek’s stomach tightened. Yuri hadn't been a vampire for that long then.

He wondered who the person next to him had been a lifetime ago that was only separated from the present by a year and a half.

_Yuri Plisetsky._

What sorts of dreams did he have? What did he like to do?

That was all still there inside the Yuri beside him now. He was just caught in a world that didn’t let him live. _Couldn’t_ let him live.

"I hadn't been... lucid enough to do much for him until then." Otabek didn't know what that entailed exactly, but the hesitance in Yuri’s voice told him some of the darkness in those early days as a vampire wasn't for retelling.

"So it was my first night hunting with him. It’s completely unusual to be in a group or pair, but it was Sal. He wanted to show me how to do things... his way. I thought it was normal. I didn't know who I was.

"I was supposed to enter the house from another side, but you hunters came. By the time the other two with Sal were dead, you'd already brought your fight with Sal to the street.”

His head tilted back and he closed his eyes. “I saw you. Smelled you…  it made me hesitate.”

“Why?”

He smirked. “You smelled good. Like a lot of familiar things. And unfamiliar things. I didn’t know what any of it meant. But then I saw you fight.” Yuri’s eyes were wide and wandering back to pull these scenes out from both of their minds. Yuri’s from some unknown place in the shadows, and Otabek from before that monster himself.

It was strange to think of Yuri witnessing that so long ago; he and Otabek had both had very different paths set out for them. How odd for them to manage a collision - and then not just crashing, but some sort of twining and melding Otabek couldn't dislodge from. He may never find his way again.

But Yuri’s story wasn't done.

"Did Yuuri train you?"

The question was a surprise, but Otabek confirmed, "Yes, he did."

Smile faint and sad, he said, “You know now I’m a former fan of Yuuri Katsuki. What I said the other day wasn’t a lie. I really wanted to… be in your spot, I guess.”

Otabek felt heavy inside; Yuri was connected to him in so many strange ways.

"It’s changed now, but back then you really mirrored him in style. And I saw you strike Sal down, and I was so filled with what you smelled like… it triggered memories in me… it was horrible." He clutched at his chest, forehead creased at the pain he summoned. Otabek didn't want it for him, but he wanted to understand, and knew Yuri needed to share this.

"I remembered, and I knew Sal was someone I wanted dead. But I also knew immediately you didn't kill him. Still, I fled. There was too much in my head. And I found that the more I searched back, the more I could remember. I needed the time.”

This notion that Otabek was partially the reason they sat here tonight under the moon was bewildering.

"Was us meeting still chance?"

Yuri tilted his head back to look at Otabek, hair falling away from his face as he did. Otabek swallowed hard. "You know, the idea never came to me that you'd help me. But when I realized who you were, the idea hit so fast that I had to try."

"Wow."

The last of the clouds had swept from the sky. They stared at each other, and words rose and fell in Otabek. Yuri had harbored so many small details for so long. He spreading them out now meant a lot to Otabek. He’d at least have the whole story for remembering every detail of this experience.

"I’m glad you tried," he said before he could stop himself. It was true, so fuck it.

"Well, it worked."

They’d unintentionally approached the topic of the end, and Otabek pulled away from it fast.

“Why did you keep this a secret?”

“It felt like a weakness for a long time,” he explained. “And then eventually, I just didn’t know how. It just seems like it makes me sound almost human again. But I’m still –“

He held up his hands before him.

“This. It seemed best to keep it to myself.”

“Sal remembered things too, right?”

Yuri nodded. “Yeah, I also hated feeling like I was similar to him.”

The atmosphere was laden in shadow with the mention of Sal; Otabek had enough answers to the mysteries of Yuri’s life for the night, though there was one question that still burned.

"What were you going to have us do _differently_ that one night?"

Yuri’s head whipped forward and he ducked slightly into his knees. "Oh, god. I don't think it matters now. It was stupid."

Otabek swallowed down his heart, though he didn't know why it was trying to jump from him in the first place. Yuri’s slouched posture and almost-embarrassed demeanor didn't mean anything.

He pressed for an answer. "I doubt that. And it... it still matters."

Yuri avoided Otabek’s eyes by staring at the ground beyond his knees. He kept his chin tucked as he started, "being with you so much has helped me recall a lot of, um." he turned his head away more and used a hand to gesture in circles. "Human stuff. Emotions and crap. And I wasn't going to say that before but I guess I am now. Back then, I wanted to do something... human?"

Yuri’s words weren't making complete sense to him, but he was also lagging to process them all. Yuri wanted to... do something that was more human?

"Like..."

Yuri nose scrunched up. "I don't know! What would you do on a night I’m not here and you're not working?"

Unfortunately, Otabek’s life wasn't exciting enough for any literal answer to that question actually working as an example for what Yuri was saying, but Otabek understood now.

Objectively understood, that was. As for actually understanding the implications here, he was coming up short. But he’d try.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay?"

"I can't do a lot because of my ankle, but let's doing something different."

A smile was showing itself on Yuri’s face. "Like what then?"

"Is there anything you miss?"

~

Yuri fell asleep only a short while after sunrise, and during the time he was awake, he was extremely tired. He first seemed to fall asleep only to wake suddenly, his head whipping around in fear.

Yuri swore he didn’t dream, but there must be the dredges of something in his subconscious mind torturing him.

When Yuri saw Otabek lying next to him, he calmed - and soon again he slipped into that catatonic state.

Otabek woke mid-afternoon. His ankle throbbed less now when weight was put on it, which lent Otabek a better mood. Soon he wouldn’t feel so physically powerless.

Otabek’s job for the day was to prepare Yuri’s request for something normal.

The issue with that was Otabek’s not being able to travel far with his injury; most places worth visiting were at a distance.

He’d have to improvise.

As he went forward in his day, it was all he could do to keep from feeling absolutely silly. He was digging through old boxes, unpacking items not used in a long time, and thinking way too much about this. He was a love-struck idiot.

His stomach fluttered the closer the sun came to disappearing.

“What’s this?”

Otabek’s heart leapt. He turned.

He hadn’t heard Yuri get up.

Otabek ran a hair through his hair, staring at Yuri from the side and trying to gauge his reactions by the second.

So far Yuri only gazed around the room glowing auburn in candlelight from the table decorated for a meal that wouldn’t come. He paused on the record player spinning lithely in the corner. Then looked back to Otabek, but he smiled, hiding his face a little with it tilted town. Otabek thought if he could, he’d be blushing, and it made him feel better.

“When’s the last time someone took you on a proper date?”

Yuri’s eyes went wide, and he stammered something that never quite formulated true words. He gave up when Otabek held out a hand, heart thudding through his feigned confidence-which Yuri could surely hear like fireworks.

Soft notes drifted from the record player. Otabek wasn’t affluent in music and he didn’t know composers; he’d just put on whatever seemed gentle and slow.

“Oh no, what are you doing?” Yuri whined as Otabek put a hand around his waist.

Though smiling, Otabek rolled his eyes, realizing that Yuri was going to make every step of this painful.

He didn’t answer, but guided Yuri’s hand to his shoulder. He glimpsed briefly that the bites along his arms had finally faded into pale crescent scars.

“I can’t dance,” Yuri said, looking pointedly to the floor between their feet.

Otabek laughed, and Yuri glanced up with scowl.

“Yuri,” he said. “Do you think I spent my nights all these months dancing?”

Yuri stubbornly kept his pout.

Otabek shook his head with a smile. He felt so… fond.

He wrapped his arms around Yuri’s waist more and pulled him in. Yuri said nothing, just went with the motion, and brought his arms further around Otabek’s neck.

They didn’t move in steps but gentle sways.

So it wasn’t really dancing, not really - but the soft press of Yuri against him was a twirl to his heart, a spin to his mind.

“I haven’t heard music in a long time,” Yuri said.

“... Me either,” Otabek commented after a moment.

Yuri raised an eyebrow.

“We’re alike, aren’t we?”

Yuri pursed lips and hid his eyes again.

They drifted through another few minutes of musical notes. Otabek’s ankle distantly ached; he did his best to keep most his weight off it.

“You shouldn’t want to be alike,” Yuri whispered. It took Otabek a second to recall what he was responding to.

“Well, I like _you_.”

Yuri sighed and he almost sounded frustrated.

What was he thinking? Even now, Otabek felt like he knew so little.

Without saying so, Otabek suddenly took Yuri’s arms and pulled him toward the table.

“You could eat,” Yuri commented at the empty table as he sat down.

“That would feel way too weird.”

“What are we doing then?”

“When was the last time you talked to someone,” Otabek started, pulling out his own chair and sitting, “over a candlelit non-dinner.”

That had Yuri’s lips moving to a smile.

Music still played something light and orchestral.

Yuri’s eyes were on the candle; it flickered deep in his eyes.

The light danced shadows across his face – he was all golds and greens and shadows, elegant and strong. Otabek could feel the memories Yuri held beyond that grace like a weight in the room. His hand curled into a fist on his knee.

“I wish there was someplace I could take you without it being unsafe for you.”

“Hm.” Yuri shrugged, smirked a little, and it was the tiniest gesture of nothing but Otabek felt his chest tighten all the same.

“Funny you’re worried about my safety now, rather than everyone else’s.”

And there was that topic again.

Yuri continued though: “At least the other hunters are fine with me. For now.”

Mila and Sara’s faces popped into Otabek’s mind; he saw the surprise on their expressions, and though terror and disgust hadn’t been mixed in as Otabek feared, they still hurried from the station in such a way that his stomach remained unsettled.

They were hunters; they were meant to be composed in trying times. Likely they immediately discussed among themselves the blatant atrocity.

Atrocity… Otabek watched the light reflect on Yuri’s hair and couldn’t find that word again.

Otabek wanted to give Yuri a normal evening, but maybe this was the time to broach this topic. Here and now, where maybe they wouldn’t find a way to tear down reality and cocoon themselves in a web of their own making.

Talking about this didn’t mean Yuri would immediately dissolve into the shadows, he reminded himself.

“Where will you go?”

Yuri’s eyes lifted from the flames to Otabek’s own. There was an intensity there that nearly compressed the air from his lungs. The feelings he reflected burned strong, but didn’t quite reach Otabek. He didn’t know what to expect.

Otabek had the urge to brush the words away and chase the fire Yuri promised on the other side of them, to close that distance again and again and leave tomorrow’s trials a mystery still.

But… no.

They needed this.

“I don’t…” Yuri started, but the words slipped away like something rolling off the table.

Yuri shook his head. “No.” He leaned into the table and held out his hand, eyes back to the flame with a pout to his lips now. Wordlessly, confused, Otabek took his hand.

Yuri tugged him forward as soon as his grasp was firm so that they were leaning over the table to speak. Otabek could feel the heat of the candle near his chin.

“Do I have to go anywhere?” he said low, twining their fingers on the table.

Otabek’s heart pounded. “You don’t want to?”

Yuri backed off with the force of his scoff. “Of course I don’t fucking want to! You want me to?”

Otabek thought maybe he could save Yuri from the pain of this by saying Yuri had to leave. That they couldn’t go on pretending in this game because… Yuri was a vampire. Otabek was trained to kill vampires. Their common goal was completed. And they had known one day this would end.

But that was all because thought he was the only one caught in the grandeur illusion that maybe they could find a way.

Yuri’s words rang through his head, making logical thought have to wind through their brambles, and his ideas were weakened when they managed arrival at the forefront of his mind. Because Yuri said of course he doesn’t want to leave.

Of course. So matter-of-fact.

He realized part of him had been waiting for this – some confirmation that Yuri maybe felt, too, the tangle of emotions between them.

“Because I could pretend I just want to stay with you because you make me feel alive again, and because I can remember my life so clearly beside you, or that I can imagine the constant hunger I feel is something else when I’m with you.”

Yuri’s wrist moved and he flipped their arms, exposing their wrists. He stared along the veins of Otabek’s.

“I told myself that’s what it was. An addiction to a set of feelings.” Yuri’s head ducked. “But maybe… that isn’t it.”

Otabek didn’t know to expect the happiness filling his chest. It felt wrong, because this was still complicated and nothing would be solved by them merely wanting the same things – yet somehow the feeling still rose in his chest, aloft and light, pressing out against his ribs almost anxiously.

“Well are you going to say anything?” Yuri’s eyes were wild and he clutched Otabek’s hand harder.

For a moment Otabek was mesmerized by the ways in which Yuri rose and fell between emotions. Then he had words on his tongue, but Yuri still beat him to speaking.

He let go of his hand and shoved from the table. The candle shuddered in its holder; the current song fell to a close.

“It’s stupid, isn’t it?”

His chair scraped against the floor.

“All of this –“ he gestured at the table, the kitchen, the air where new notes were beginning to drift in. Otabek guessed he was part of that gesture, too.

Yuri’s eyes darted to the bedroom where the window led to a night Yuri could so easily lose himself to and try to forget Otabek ever existed.

Whatever kept Otabek frozen broke. “Yuri.” He stood fast and tried to meet him.

“No.” Yuri held up his hands. “I’m just some fucking creature to your world and I’d – I don’t deserve anything.”

“Yuri.”

“You don’t need to feel bad for me either.” Yuri couldn’t meet Otabek’s eyes as he tried to turn away, but Otabek grabbed his wrist. Cold skin, and it didn’t matter. It didn’t have to matter.

Yuri’s words let Otabek’s thoughts fall into place better: this didn’t have to be complicated if they could agree they deserved to be happy.

That they both did – Otabek understood. They both felt the horrible, dragging guilt for a life seemingly gone wrong.

But Yuri did deserve happiness, he believed. He believed that more than anything – and if each other’s happiness was somewhere in one another, then maybe there was only one way.

Yuri could resist Otabek’s hold on him, but he didn’t. His shoulders slumped, hair fallen into his face; through the strands, Otabek saw his eyes soft and sad.

God, it was unbearable – the sight clawed something horrible inside him. If he could just save everything then and there, he would give anything.

“I don’t feel bad for you,” he said. “And fuck, Yuri, no. You’re not a – “ he couldn’t even say the slur in hypothetical against him now. How funny, when a year ago he’d thought of him little more than such. If he was so far removed from that version of himself, then what was Yuri to him now?

Over a rising lump in his throat, Otabek tried: “You’re beautiful, and strong, and there’s so much I still don’t know about you that it drives me crazy. I want to know.” He took a deep breath, straining to keep his voice level. “I don’t know the right ways to say it – but I know if you left now I’d never stop thinking about you.”

The words, despite being unlike any he’d spoken before, still didn’t seem enough. They filled the room only part way – it felt nothing compared to what coursed through his being, sending his heart beating so hard it was just a thrum.

However lacking he thought his words were, they seemed to impress onto Yuri. The demeanor he held near fleeing melted away more. Otabek added, “So don’t go.”

Yuri snapped to face him so fast Otabek almost stumbled back, and he lost his hold on Yuri’s wrist.

Yuri’s hands shot down to clench at his sides. “Why did you ask where I would go then?”

“I thought maybe you wanted to.”

Softness flickered across his expression but was concealed fast. Yuri was… dizzying.

“You know what you’re saying, don’t you?” He waved a hand between them. “This – this isn’t supposed to happen.”

Why was Yuri the protesting one now?

Otabek shook his head. “Maybe, maybe not. I focused on that too, but –“ _but seeing you about to storm out of my life changed that immediately,_ he didn’t say. He settled on, “ – that doesn’t have to change how I feel about you.”

Yuri didn’t manage words beyond opening his mouth partway. He pressed a hand on his chest as if to wonder, _me_?

_Yes, you_ , Otabek thought.

“And you won’t learn to hate me?” was what Yuri asked.

“What happened to the person who threw me against a wall and said I don’t get to ask you to not be you?

Yuri sneered some, smiled some. “Yeah, that was easier when I could pretend I didn’t care what you thought of me.”

“Well, I’ll never hate you.”

“Are you sure?”

Otabek tried to imagine the fragile line Yuri walked along that made it suddenly so hard for him to believe Otabek. It was another detail come to light as Yuri evolved before him.

Not long ago, Yuri likely imagined having anything close to this was impossible – he probably did not even consider it. To have it all before him suddenly now must seem like a dream he feared waking from.

To him, maybe this was him encroaching on something only for humans. But Otabek didn’t think that was correct. Despite how human or not human Yuri was, he was still himself experiencing this. Otabek was maybe a catalyst, but this was Yuri.

“I don’t even know what I am,” Yuri whispered. “How can you _actually_ be sure?”

Otabek sighed and shook his head. “Yuri, you’re not a _something_ to me. It’s just - you’re you. I’ve come to love everything about you, because you’re _Yuri_ . You’re _enough_.”

Even as he said it, he felt like he was understanding at last. He didn't need to wait for Yuri to fill the rest of the world's definition of enough. 

He already was.

The hand on Yuri’s chest clenched. He stood straighter, watching Otabek with eyes that shook.

He took a deep, shaky breath, though he didn’t seem about to speak. He closed his eyes and exhaled with a slow nod.

Yuri looked a tumult of emotions, but he managed the faintest smile through it all. “Okay,” he said, and the word sounded so fragile it could crack.

The emotions on him seemed to be missing something; Otabek wouldn’t think so, but his mind seemed to be expecting an addition to the mood Yuri was awash with.

It was then that Otabek realized vampires couldn’t cry.

Otabek pulled him into a hug. Yuri fell into him with a small gasp of surprise.

His hand on his chest pressed into Otabek.

Yuri’s hair rubbed against Otabek’s cheek and tickled his ear, and he pulled Yuri in more as he felt his arms gradually come around him, too.

His heart hammered enough for both of them; Yuri could likely feel it, if his ears weren’t already filled with the sound of it thrashing.

They’d never just… hugged.

He could hold onto Yuri without a timer ticking away his heart.

He would fight whatever he needed to so that this could happen.

When Yuri laid awake beside Otabek in the dark hours later, with Otabek falling slowly asleep, he whispered, “I’m enough as I am.” It was just a simple restatement, but Yuri still sounded in disbelief at the words.

Otabek took his hands between them and kissed his fingers.

“You are,” he said.

“You love everything about me,” Yuri said too. Otabek opened his eyes. He could barely make out the trace of Yuri’s body next to him. “That means you… love me, then?”

He gripped Yuri’s hands a little tighter as if to press the truth of the words into his being. “I love you.”

Yuri took Otabek’s hand and pressed it to his chest. He felt one of those few and far-between beats of Yuri’s heart.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)
> 
> ahhh but what have the others been thinking this past week? a few loose ends to be tied up, it seems. but at least some boys learned to ~talk~ a little


	13. Chapter 13

Mrs. Nishigori stood in his doorway, smiling and bright. “Good afternoon, Otabek!”

“Ah, Mrs. Nishigori, hello.” He looked behind her into the hall, but no one else was with her. It was strange to be called upon by his landlord. Perhaps she’d noticed his lack of emergence and wanted to make sure he was still alive.

“You know,” she said, laughing a little shakily. “You can probably just call me Yuuko.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’ve a message to deliver! I was told not to come by until the afternoon, so here I am.”

“A message?”

She nodded. “From Mr. Katsuki. He asked you to come by work tonight an hour after sunset. And he said to say you could ‘both’ come.” She attempted a brief glance over his shoulder.

Otabek resisted the urge to move in her way. Yuri was asleep; she wouldn’t see anything.

“Thanks for stopping by to let me know.” He paused. Smiled. “Yuuko.”

That seemed to please her, and she gave a final wave as Otabek shut the door.

He felt a little heavy at the re-entry of the outside world into his life, even though he and Yuri both knew they’d have to face it soon.

The week had been nice; the notion that they’d have to talk with the hunters eventually didn’t fade, but it strayed along the perimeter of the apartment where it couldn’t drag them down.

It was strange the way admitting one's feelings opened up so many more doors. Maybe it was an exaggeration – _maybe_ – but Otabek felt like he learned more about Yuri in the past two days than he had in all the time he’d known him.

His fallen guard let some of those mysteries fall onto the ground before Otabek as whole stories and truths and feelings. Otabek could gather them, read them, understand them, and turn back to Yuri with the words or actions that he needed.

His ankle was mostly healed though, and Yuri was doing better. A lot better.

His sleep had corrected itself, and actually talking about some of the horrors he’d faced in his mind over the past year seemed to do wonders. Sometimes his eyes still went dark, and Otabek watched helplessly as his mind tumbled below into the basement. But he’d hold Yuri in those moments and remind him it was over and could never, ever happen again.

As for Otabek, he never realized he could connect with someone on this level. He thought what he and Yuri had before was something special. But telling Yuri how he felt, how he’d been feeling... and together, them tracing back through _both_ their feelings over the past months and making a map of what led to what… was incredible.

Sometimes it was still hard to open up.

But he was feeling good for only being a few days into his new life.

… Maybe.

Because they had absolutely no idea what to expect from meeting with the other hunters.

~

Otabek kissed along Yuri’s neck as the seconds remaining in the sun’s reign fell away.

Yuri’s eyes opened – he almost sat up with a start at seeing Otabek right there, but Otabek held him down. “Good evening,” he said, and kissed his lips.

Yuri hummed something nondescript against his mouth. He was grinning now, wrapping arms around Otabek and pulling him closer.

Otabek felt near to bursting with what he felt for Yuri. In a way, the word ‘love’ didn’t seem enough. He felt a force emanating from Yuri that pulled his very soul in, and now that he knew to feel for it, he could sense that same force tugging Yuri right back.

It was in every touch and look, a backwards and forwards motion swaying between them. He wanted Yuri _past_ just wanting him. If there was a way to crush their hearts together without death to either of them, he’d take it.

A fire must have flared up in Yuri, because he changed their positions and was suddenly hovering over Otabek. His strength sent Otabek’s mind teetering.

As usual, of course. But he accepted it and played with it rather than feeling subtly guilty like so many times before.

He picked up Yuri’s hands and laced their fingers together. He gently pulled him forward.

Yuri put some of his weight on their hands to lean over Otabek more and smirked down.

He hadn’t meant for this to happen – not exactly, at least – but he would take this. He still felt nerves for their meeting tonight. There was the cursed thought in the back of his mind that something could still go terribly, horribly wrong. He’d fight whatever it was. They both would.

But he’d let Yuri stay in the dark about their meeting as long as possible.

Their hands unclasped. Yuri moved down to run his lips along his neck, and Otabek leaned his head back, teeth clenching as his hands gripped Yuri’s waist.

Yuri licked slowly along, that stuff that drove Otabek mad – even now, with their love on the table, Otabek still found thrill in the danger of Yuri. The thought of Yuri bringing himself so close to Otabek, battling the intoxicating throes of his own desires – it sent heat coursing through him.

He wished Yuri could bite down on him. Hell, how many times had he wished that? But he wanted that, wanted to feel Yuri tremble as he came so close to what he wanted. And Otabek wanted to feel his heart pound so hard it washed sound from his ears and drove Yuri even madder.

“Your heart is beating so fast,” Yuri whispered against his ear. When he leaned back, he was grinning. “What are you thinking about?”

He sat back into his lap, hips rotating over Otabek, body poised perfectly to drive him upmost mad. “Is there something you want?”

“Yuri,” Otabek huffed, throwing an arm over his eyes as he caught his breath that’d been so easily taken from him.

“Hey.” Yuri’s tone had a grin in it. He took both of Otabek’s wrists and dragged him into a sitting position. “Did I ever tell you how crazy it made me to fuck you when you’re supposed to be killing me?”

The words were like a drug injected straight into him that raised his temperature by a million.

Yuri traced fingers of both hands along Otabek’s collarbone.

“I liked to think about you wanting to resist me, wanting so badly to be good, but that you just couldn’t stop thinking about me.”

He grabbed Otabek’s shirt collar and yanked him forward, gyrating his hips again.

“And when you were fucking me – well, I imagine you felt the same.”

Otabek didn’t speak, just kissed Yuri again, and dragged him down.

~

Otabek had missed the bruises Yuri accidentally pressed across his body; he reveled in the heavy memory of Yuri recently inside him, and he drank in the way his heart still hammered.

Yuri laid next to Otabek, propped up by one arm with the other cupped around Otabek’s head with his fingers playing through his hair. He looked smug beyond his own haze.

“You’re so pretty destroyed.” Otabek rolled his eyes but his heart warmed.

He let them stay like that a while, blissful and quiet.

But time pushed. Yuuri asked for an hour after sundown, and that time was drawing extremely close. They’d be late, surely. At least they’d show though.

He took a deep breath.

“We’ve been asked to meet the others.”

“Mm.” Yuri traced cool fingers down the curve of Otabek’s neck and onto his shoulder. Otabek shivered. “When?”

"Tonight."

Yuri's fingers stopped. "Tonight as in now?"'

"... Yes."

"Why didn't you -" but Yuri seemed to answer the question forming on his own.

He shook his head, sighing. "What do you think they'll do?"

"I really don't know."

"And they asked me to come, too?"

Otabek caught the concern in Yuri’s voice. He felt it too.

"They did. Though the message came specifically from Yuuri, which makes me think we don't have too much to worry about." As in neither of them would get hurt, if they cooperated with whatever the group had to tell them. Yuuri was gentle and sensitive, but he was practical.

He hoped the others weren’t assuming that the two of them spent time figuring out anything within the realms of parting ways, and that they'd merely come tonight to let it be confirmed for everyone in person. Yuuri knew more than the others, and Otabek could only hope he defended them as much as he could.

"So we should go?"

Otabek tugged on Yuri, upending his balance and pulling him against him. "They can wait a little longer."

~ 

Otabek frequented these streets and shadows so many times over the years; to see it so plain and unchanged while he felt entirely altered was strange. His world had shifted, but it was a world inside him. The rest of the planet turned on.

He felt that change emanate from Yuri as he walked alongside him. He gazed around them, eyes still and watching. Perhaps he saw the world for its stagnancy as well.

The animal slid from Yuri day by day; Otabek noticed this a long time ago but equated it to Yuri drawing from the habits he was practicing to blend in next to Otabek.

Now Otabek thought maybe there was something else changing in Yuri. He recalled those words uttered in the dark, _"I’m not a normal vampire,"_ and the way they seemed to be announcing Otabek’s arrival at the wall Yuri had up, after months of slashing through the brambles to find him. Yuri had carved cracks in the cement for Otabek to peer through, but there was still so much Otabek wanted to know.

Couldn’t wait to know, if the universe let that at all be possible.

They’d walked these streets together so many times that Otabek couldn't pick apart the memories anymore.

Instead they bled together as a mesh of feelings that had progressed over time - ghosts of them scattered across these cobbles and inside buildings in all the places they'd left their mark.

Otabek’s chest tightened - a mix of elation and nerves. He wanted to let himself be so, so happy about Yuri, but every step brought them closer to the station where the others waited to attempt handing them a verdict.

Beside him, Yuri remained quiet - though he drew closer to Otabek’s side as the station came into view beyond the turn of a corner.

For a second Otabek considered reaching out and taking Yuri’s hand, but he didn't.

"It’ll be okay," he said instead.

"I don't think Yuuri’s in there," he whispered.

A rock dropped in Otabek’s stomach and he felt the air grow cold. He swallowed hard. "It’s fine."

He didn't sound convincing. He thought about asking Yuri who was inside then, yet they were already at the doors.

He had Yuri enter after him, begrudging the way silence in the room rung out as if talking ceased only seconds ago.

The room was dimly lit by a corner lamp; Minako sat on the edge of her desk, and Mila and Sara leaned against the couch back. Not quite the group Otabek expected.

Minako’s eyes were already on Yuri, and Otabek again itched to grab Yuri’s hand. He wanted to pull him behind his body, block him from the prying eyes of humans who'd yet to understand.

The atmosphere wasn't exactly grim though, as Mila bounded forward and held out a hand. "Hi! I’m sorry we didn't meet properly before. I’m Mila."

Like Otabek, Yuri could only stare in surprise. Mila held the hand there, smiling like everything was normal, and Yuri seemed to unconsciously reach out to take it. She shook it firmly, nearly dragging Yuri down with her eagerness. "This is my partner in both life and crime, Sara." Sara stepped behind her; Mila pulled Yuri’s hand into Sara’s.

"Hi, Yuri," Sara said. "I’m so happy to see you're doing well."

Minako cut in. "Otabek, are you doing better?" She eyed his ankle.

Her voice was definitely less dark than he was expecting.

"I’m pretty much healed," he answered. He looked around, but it was definitely only these three. “Where’s Yuuri? Victor?”

Her eyes darkened, but she blinked the change away fast. “That’ll come soon. But first, you'll be happy to know Sara and Mila have let us in on some interesting information about Sellow."

She didn't give Otabek time to react to how unexpected and seemingly unrelated to he and Yuri that sentence was. She called upon Mila and Sara to explain.

"Right," Sara started. “First of all though, how are you and Yuri?”

He and Yuri glanced between themselves.

Otabek said, “Uh, good?” He didn’t mean for it to sound like a question.

Mila asked, “Like, _good_ -good? It’s important.”

“... Yes. That.”

The grin the two women shared seemed practically giddy.

Sara continued, "Our town has held a secret from this town for fear of Hollow cutting ties." She looked directly at Yuri. "Yuri, you remember your past. What else have you noticed? Other things that make you different?”

Yuri leaned away from her. “What are you on about?”

She laughed. “Okay, well, you're not alone in remembering the things you remember, or feeling the things you feel."

Yuri was almost snapping at her when he demanded, _"What?"_

She nodded. A smile spread wide on her face like she couldn't wait to tell him this. "You see, we've been studying this since one of our hunters was turned. He remembered who he'd been, or at least some key important things. He came to us immediately. It was an unheard of phenomenon, at the time.

"It seemed his particularly... traumatic turning triggered him to remember parts of himself. With time, we coaxed more of those memories back. And we've been able to replicate the practice on other vampires. We theorize that almost any vampire can recall their life with time and trust."

"Not all want to," Mila added in. "Many don't."

"True," Sara said with a brief frown. “But it changes them. Makes them more resilient, and we only recently got a psychologist on board to help further our understanding of a vampire’s mind.”

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"We have a research center set up. And- and doctors and volunteers that make it possible for vampires to live without hurting anyone.

“I hope this doesn’t offend you, but vampirism is a sort of virus that rewires the brain. I mean that’s obvious, right?”

"But," Mila picked up, “Though it probably can’t be… undone, I don’t want to say cured, because you’re fine as you are. It can be altered so that the effects remain physical alterations less than mental and emotional ones.”

“You’d both love our science facility for this,” Sara went on. “We are almost done designing these automatic windows that shut when light is detected, and… well, I could go on forever.” She laughed a little. They were rambling, like they needed more than the initial notion of hey-there’s-a-place-for-you-guys to convince them this was good.  

Mila nodded. "We’ve recently discovered some very unruly vampires in Sellow. After coming here, we think we know now that Sal’s influence might've spread our way. We could use the help and experience of you both. On top of your situation, Yuri, that might interest you in our town anyway."

Otabek’s thoughts moved slowly. All of this was information Otabek couldn't conjure even in his imagination. Yuri’s stillness beside him told Otabek that he, too, was beyond shock.

But- a rock fell into his stomach.

“What hunter was turned?”

Sara pursed her lips, eyes dropping to the ground. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Phichit.”

“Oh.” Oh.

“Yuuri went to see him,” Otabek guessed.

Minako confirmed with a solemn nod. “Victor is with him. But Phichit is going to be okay.”

"I knew it," Yuri whispered. Then louder, "I knew there was something there. I feel like I’m unraveling all this, but not to become who I was - just something different. Something I… like. And I knew it couldn't just be me and Sal."

He clenched a fist in determination and turned to Otabek. He smiled.

Fucking smiled - so purely, so truly happy and relieved, and Otabek felt his own eyes sting.

"Otabek," Minako said. He barely heard her but shifted eyes her way.

"The station could set you up in Sellow. Perhaps a place with a window that doesn't face sunrise?"

~

His empty apartment was a sight to behold. He hadn't considered himself one to own much, but it seemed he'd owned enough to cover the blank walls and bare shelves and empty tables. These things all stared back at him now, echoing hollowly only the memories of the items they once contained.

He scanned the place one last time to ensure he wasn’t forgetting something. Yuri was in his bedroom doing the same for him.

Sara and Mila had done the honors of finding them a place while Otabek and Yuri packed and cleaned his place up over the week.

The sun set only an hour ago - they had a long night ahead of them carrying stuff into their new place, but... it was _their_ new place.

Otabek still struggled with the idea and the fluttering in his chest that came with it.

The curtains had been removed from his bedroom window. Yuri didn't turn the light on, so the only light was the half-moon’s scant rays falling onto Hollow.

Yuri stood there, shrouded in the faint light with his back to Otabek.

He was gazing out the window.

Instead of interrupting, Otabek tried to follow. He let his eyes drift past Yuri out the window and tried to find what he saw.

The mountains in the distance were pale blue in the early night. Their outlines were ghostly vestiges against the black of the sky.

Their slopes rolled down into hills that touched the town, and it was all a great vastness of distance that Otabek never considered crossing much.

Until now. He’d go wherever he could, with Yuri.

"Hey," Yuri said. He turned halfway toward Otabek.

"Hey."

"Is it weird I’ll miss coming in through that window?"

Otabek smiled at that - at that and more, because here was some beautiful and enigmatic person standing before him, back-dropped against glowing mountains and an endless sky underlined by so much earth.

He was _here,_ and after all they'd been through - from trying to kill each other to trying to save each other - telling Otabek he'd miss swinging in through that damn window.

Yet… Otabek would miss that, too.

He took in Yuri fully once more, if only to sate the feelings bursting in his chest.

Yuri stared at him, grinning a little.

There was something he’d always thought in the back of his mind, though he’d never let the idea take full form. The thought emerged now: moonglow had always suited Yuri.

Instead of responding to those words with his own, Otabek held out a hand.

With a smirk, he asked, "Are you coming, or not?"

With a smile that would be the only sun Otabek would ever need, Yuri reached for his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> … And that’s a wrap!!
> 
> Wow!! I can’t explain how much the support I got for this fic meant. You’ve all been amazing. Thank you so, so so so much. So much went into this fic because I piled it full of so much FEELING. Some which didn’t get touched upon that I will discuss in a moment. Also, I'll be replying to the rest of the amazing comments I've gotten soon. ;-; Thank you so much...  
> I want to give a shoutout to my girlfriend [nexttothelamp](http://nexttothelamp.tumblr.com/) who read each chapter before its posting and edited for me, and promised me that this whole thing even made sense. Thank you; I love you. 
> 
> I grew a lot as a writer through this story and learned a ton about writing Otabek and Yuri… as such, I will write much, much more Otayuri. <3 Thank you again so much for support and kudos and comments and following me on social media and talking to me there. Please continue to do so, I love you all.
> 
> So notice this is under the moonbeams series now! Before I even finished writing this story, I knew that there was a lot more to be told. I do wish to write more from this AU, and many of you have informed me you want this, too?? Which is more than I could hope for as feedback?? Omfg???
> 
> Please subscribe to the series if you’re interested in possibilities like future fics (many of which will probably be more explicit sex scenes XD), Yuri probably becoming a crazy-awesome vampire civil rights activist, and rewrites of moonbeams through Yuri’s perspective. There was a lot our mad agape boy was dealing with in this fic, things that Otabek won’t understand until much later in their relationship. I’d like to be able to explore those things.
> 
> But for now, if anyone is interested, here are links to Spotify playlists I made for moonbeams!Yuri, moonbeams!Otabek, and moonbeams itself.
> 
> [Yuri](https://open.spotify.com/user/xatyrn/playlist/06tzer6ovyvEJYVoAGsVbX?si=I6pwJM9XQIOVnt3BWAqyHg) | [Otabek](https://open.spotify.com/user/xatyrn/playlist/03B1qS6cDm0ppvntMhskMA?si=tIudhwgERzCcJsBBIsHxKg) | [moonbeams](https://open.spotify.com/user/xatyrn/playlist/0qkZ8PQVv6BRmN9V58J0yQ?si=pdHDAFLBRPmqhk3MAiiecg)
> 
> I figured I may as well share these. ^-^ I listened to them a lot while writing this, and will always add more to them.
> 
> Lastly, do look for cool stuff I have in the works. Maybe a changeling AU… an alien AU… all well underway…
> 
> Doubly lastly, no matter what happens with what I write of this AU in the future, please know that these two are happy now. They’re going to be happy. Their society is progressing. Yuri will be healthy and will soon be enough to even himself. Otabek will not let his world become more shadow than what the night hails in for all of us.
> 
> THANK YOU!!! ~
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/neptunedemon) | [tumblr](http://skateonme.tumblr.com/)


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